Nightmare
by YokoshimaMitsukai88
Summary: Sequel to After the Fall. The fate of the Nine Realms could possibly hang in the balance as Loki faces execution for his crimes. When the weight falls on Loki, will he pull through or crack under the pressure; and will a certain woman still find herself willing to stick by him no matter what is thrown his way? He is the God of Mischief after all.
1. The Phantom's Reprise

**A/N: **Here we are, the second installment of the Loki/OC series, sequel to After the Fall. If, by chance, you haven't read that, I suggest you go and do read it. Nao. Otherwise this won't make any damn sense, and you would've missed an important part of the story.

Rated M for later chapters for violence and sexual content: so be forewarned.

So here we go. Buckle down, and **welcome to the nightmare. **

* * *

Loki stretched his neck from side to side, awaiting the moment when a guard would sweep him from his confines for his awaiting execution. It had all come to this. In order to escape the hellish torture from Thanos, he would die. His soul would rest until he was called upon to be reborn in some other form. He would much rather delay dealing with Thanos as much as possible and he believed this to be his escape.

He didn't know what the time was, but he knew the day was almost over. No one had come to retrieve him yet.

_Come now, father. Shall we go on and get this over with?_ He laid down on the hard, cold floor. _Must we draw this out to unnecessary lengths?_ He closed his eyes.

"Son?" an old but powerful voice interrupted his thoughts.

He smirked, but didn't open his eyes. "Father. Such an honor it is to have the king lead me to my death, isn't it?" he said dryly.

"The date of your execution is being postponed until your brother's return," Odin stated as he slowly walked up to the jail cell gates.

Loki's eyes flew open. "Thor's return?" he asked in confusion. "Where, pray tell, does Thor have to go so urgently?"

"He has returned to Midgard, where his mortal allies have called him into combat for their safety once more," Odin explained. He has requested to not carry out your death until he returns."

"And I say to Hel with what Thor's wishes are. He will mourn no more or less regardless of how the deed is carried out, him there or not. And what of my wish? Can I not request to see to my end come sooner rather than later?"

"You gave up that privilege when you chose to force your father and king to bestow upon you judgment without any offer of explanations of your actions."

"Oh no. We both know this is about where your heart lies," Loki dropped his smirk.

"This is about protecting the 9 realms from a family feud that has turned into war-"

"Unfortunately for you, father, lying is not one of your strengths," Loki taunted lowly.

Odin looked up from where he was standing and made eye contact with him. "Loki, you are my son; and therefore I love you as my son," he said firmly. "But you have strayed down a dark and dangerous path: One that has landed you in this very cell. If you do not wish to fight for your life that tells me you will not change if I free you. I cannot have you wandering aimlessly through worlds, destroying everything you touch. You have yet to learn your lesson. If death is what it will take for you to see the seriousness and severity of your actions, then so be it."

Loki chuckled and his nasty smirk returned. "And yet, all you did to your beloved Thor was strip him of his powers and cast him out."

"He did not declare war-"

"Of course he did! Though it was upon the Jotuns, and thereby not as serious of a matter; forgive me for stepping out of line!" Loki spat in hatred.

"If you wish to defend your name, then let us hear it!" Odin roared. "Otherwise, your foolish outcries of rage against my decisions will not be tolerated!"

Loki breathed hard, trying to keep himself from lunging at the bars. "Unless you have something of actual value to relay to me, I demand you leave me at once," he growled dangerously.

Odin stared him down in silence before daring to speak again. "Your punishment will be carried out when your brother returns," he stated softly. "I must fulfill my duties as king and protect this realm and all others from the sure destruction and chaos that would rein down upon them if you were to be free. You have still neglected to defend your own honor-"

"What honor? I was never given any honor."

"SILENCE!" Odin roared at Loki's back-talking.

"You know this as truth!" Loki roared back, swiftly rising up and lunging for the gate.

"DO NOT TALK ILL TO YOUR KING!"

"I will say as I wish about my so called king," he snarled. "Your so called rule is pathetic. The only power you have comes only from your title-"

"Reign your tongue, boy!"

"I would die to see you force me to do so. Go on and muzzle me like a wild beast for slaughter," Loki challenged darkly. "After all I did for you during Thor's banishment and your precious Odinsleep, and you still look at me as a monster. I will have none of this!"

"So be it then," Odin forced the words to leave his throat. He turned to walk out of the prison, almost regretting he had come to speak to Loki in the first place. He stopped, however, when he got to the door. "It is such a waste, throwing away your life in this manner," he said, his back still to Loki.

"That is your loss, not mine," Loki said cleverly.

Odin didn't answer him. He simply walked out.

* * *

How much time truly passed before Loki saw anyone again, he did not know. There was no window for him to look out for him to count the days as they passed, so to him, it all compacted into one long day.

But until he heard the same strange sucking noise the Tesseract had made before when he had left Earth echo through the walls of the prison, time was irrelevant. He could hear whispering, but what these strangers were saying, he did not know. A feeling in his stomach told him his time would soon be coming to a close.

"We must wait until nightfall!" Loki heard a familiar voice hiss as this person bounded down the stairs to the prison. "I will brew a storm just after sunset, and then Heimdall and I will make our return! You must stay out of sight until then!"

_Ah, the valiant return of Thor; smuggling in a stow-away already, are we?_

"Loki," Thor's voice made his eyes snap open.

"Come to tell me my time has run dry, have you?" Loki smirked.

"No. I am asking you to follow my directions," Thor whispered as best he could, gazing into the cell at his brother with soft eyes. "It is but a simple request-"

"Have you gone mad? I am locked away, and you beg of me to assist you?" Loki scoffed at his audacity.

"Please Loki," Thor knelt down on one knee and grasped ahold of the bars caging his brother in. "I still do not agree with father's decision. He is but a fool to give you what you desire of him at this moment."

"He is more intelligent than you at this point, I must say."

Thor pounded the cell door at his resistance. "Brother. There is a bigger problem at hand here," Thor said with a serious face. "Director Fury believes the 9 realms are in grave danger. If we surrender you to death, then we lose such an intelligent and competent strategist that could lead to our downfall."

_Oh, so they have finally started researching my commander. Took them long enough. _"I refuse to work with you and your close minded human fools," Loki rolled his eyes.

"If you plan on being reborn later, there might not be a chance to be reborn if our universe is brought to an end! How will that work out for your magnificent plan!" Thor exhaled and held back a frustrated growl. "I do not have the time for this. Extend to me your wrists."

"Persuade me," Loki snarked.

"I am to replace your restraints with ones that don't bind your magic abilities," he said, removing a pair of cuffs identical to the ones Loki was already wearing. "You will need your magic when you enter the King's Court Hall should things go wrong."

Loki simply gazed at his brother, studying his face in search of the truth. He gruffly held out his hands and Thor began to undo the shackles at his wrists. "What are you planning, brother?" he spoke in a hushed tone.

Thor looked up as he removed the shackles. He gave Loki a half smile. "You will find out at nightfall."

"Thor, do not leave me in the dark," Loki said firmly.

Thor snapped a new set of shackles on his wrists loosely to avoid causing more damage to his brother's wrists; they already had abrasions from the deathly tight cuffs on his wrists before, and Thor couldn't bring himself to cause him anymore pain than he was already in. He gave Loki another cheeky grin.

"Silence shall fall," Thor barely whispered, "and Darkness shall rise."

Before Loki could ask what that meant, Thor was off, retreating back into the palace.

_Has he gone mad?_ Loki shook his head in puzzlement as he sat back down in his cell. _What in Valhalla has gotten into him?_

Loki tried to figure out for himself what was going on and just confused himself further. There were so many unanswered questions floating through his head: Was Heimdall with him and why would he travel to Earth with Thor? Who had Thor been talking to before he went into the prison to talk to him? Why did he put the disenchanted shackles on him when he knew Loki could easily escape with his magic now at his fingertips?

What the hell was about to happen?

By the time his brain had gotten to that question, there was an enormous clap of thunder that rolled overhead. It was so loud it was able to penetrate the depths of the castle where Loki was being caged.

_Oh dear Thor, you must be playing games once again. And here I thought you had grown wiser._ He rolled his eyes. _He always had to add such odd theatrics of everything, doesn't he._

"Loki, your father says the time has come," a guard snapped Loki's train of thought into non-existence. "We will be leading you to the throne."

"Make haste, shall you?" Loki grumbled in annoyance. "I believe Thor to be up to something that I do not wish to be a part of," he said as the guard unlocked the cell gate and swung it open. He stood up and allowed the guard to grab his arm and escort him out. There were 8 guards there, all waiting to walk in a box around him so that he couldn't bolt through the formation.

As Loki was having his escort organized around him, on the opposite side of Asgard, things were happening. The second his cell door clicked open, a figure materialized on the rainbow colored bridge, a magnificent cloak hiding the person's identity. A wide hood was pulled over this person's head, casting a shadow that hid the face underneath. The only thing that indicated this was a person and not some creature of the 9 realms was the long, black hair that escaped the hood and gathered in soft curls at the tip, which fell just past the chest; though some shorted, straight strands had escaped whatever this person had used to tie the upper layered midnight black locks away from their face and were peeking out from under the hood as well.

And their eyes. One was partially covered by side-swept bangs, but they were still visible and glowing a bright emerald green from underneath the hood. Other than that, she was faceless.

She was kneeling on one knee when she materialized out of thin air, but the second she realized it was dark and a storm was rolling in, she immediately glided into a brisk stride towards the golden gates. Her black heeled boots didn't even make a hint of a sound, and her cloak billowed silently behind her in a menacing elegance, almost short of eerie as she practically glided towards her destination as the darkness of the night swallowed her whole. It was like a shadow; there one moment and gone at the next flash of lightning.

* * *

Loki walked silently in the middle of the guards that were walking him to his certain end. He had the faintest smirk on his lips, he finding the situation comical since S.H.I.E.L.D had him in the same situation just two months ago. He kept his chin straight forward, planning on maintaining his pride and dignity up until the very moment the life left his body.

He had won. He was escaping Thanos until a new era. He and the Other couldn't find him if he wasn't alive. It was the ultimate escape.

They were walking down the final hallway before they reached the double doors that lead to the throne. Just as they reached the middle of the final hallway, the candles illuminating their path suddenly extinguished, plunging them into almost complete darkness. The only light that was there was filtering through gaps in the ceiling that were made to let in light during the day to illuminate the hallway.

Thunder erupted overhead and the guards stopped when the lights went out, almost causing the entire group to run into each other. Thankfully, everyone was paying enough attention to prevent that from happening. The guards looked around, their senses suddenly heightened at the event. Some of the guards held their staves out in front of them in a defensive stance, trying to gather themselves as something gnawed at everyone's stomach nervously.

Thunder struck again and caused everyone to jump slightly. Why everyone was suddenly so on edge, Loki didn't know, but he could feel their unease in the air and it didn't help him either. The dim pillar of light they were standing in made it hard for their eyes to fully adjust to the dark and caused an eerie feel to the room.

Suddenly one of the guards jumped and cried out, startled at something he saw in the dark. Everyone swirled their heads to where he was looking and everyone froze. Loki caught sight of glowing green orbs floating directly in their path to the double doors and his heart stopped.

_What…_

"Halt!" the center guard called out into the dark. "Who goes there!"

He was met with deafening silence, but the green orbs were still floating on down the hall in the complete darkness of the wide open hall. The guards readied their staves and pointed them towards those orbs in the distance. They broke their formation around Loki to stand in a defensive position.

"Show yourself!" the guard called out once more, his voice splitting the silence like a knife. Loki could tell they were getting restless and beyond spooked as the seconds ticked by. The setting of the night wasn't helping them either. With the strange thunderstorm, the eerie thick darkness blanketed around the entire castle and silence so thick, one could hear their own hearts pounding like a herd of horses in their chests. The tension hung over their heads, which made everyone on edge as it were and the feeling of the entire castle was rather…haunting and spooky, which was very unsettling and made everyone jumpy and edgy.

Another soft rumble of thunder rolled over their heads as the guards stood with bated breath as their fear slowly burned in their stomachs. Everything was so dark, so quiet, and so still that they couldn't see anything that wasn't in those few pillars of dim light spotted on down the hall. If that hall wasn't such an open space, they wouldn't be so jittery, but due to the open area, it just made things so much worse.

Loki's eyes darted around, he trying to figure out what was going on. His breath was heavy, his heart was racing in his chest, and he could feel the uneasy churning in his stomach as his nerves slowly grew into fear. Why, he did not know. He just knew that something bad was about to happen.

"Show yourself! Are you an ally or enemy?" the guard called out again, the echo relaying the fear in his voice.

Lightning suddenly struck overhead and illuminated the entire empty hallway with a blinding light as thunder exploded above them. Everyone jumped, startled from the deafening noise, but what startled them the most was that in the split second of light that illuminated the entire hall, a black, cloaked figure was illuminated as well, standing down the hall from them where the glowing green dots had been.

A few guards let out an audible gasp before they all aimed their staves in that direction. Loki's heart felt like it had jumped into his throat and choked out his breathing. His eyes grew wide as he tried to adjust his eyes to the darkness. He was trying to see the outline of this…thing once more. He couldn't see anything; just pitch black darkness. _Those were eyes…_ he realized. He was definitely spooked, but not totally afraid by what was going on.

"By the order of the King, we demand you to come forward!" a different guard called out this time.

The glowing pair of emerald eyes vanished in the darkness. Everyone this time froze in fear and anticipation; the silence that surrounded them was sharply agonizing, and the air was so dense that it made it hard to breathe. Once the thunder died down, the only sound that was there was the rough, shaky breathing of the 9 people standing in the hall utterly terrified of what lied in front of them in the dark.

"We demand you show yourself and tell us who you are!" the guard behind Loki called out.

Without a second of hesitation, that same guard was grabbed from behind and put into a strangling chokehold. The cloaked figure had darted out of the dark and into the faint pillar of light they were standing in, it pressing a very sharp and delicate mystic silver dagger to the throat of the guard as he yelped out in surprise.

Everyone swirled around once they heard his cry in distress. They all shuffled a few steps back nervously while pointing their staves at this cloaked figure. Those bright green eyes struck fear in Loki's chest almost instantly, and he was sure that if he was the slightest bit scared, then the guards must have been shaking in their boots. The figure was still faceless, still hidden by the hood that cast a shadow over their face to hide their identity.

"Who are you! And what is your purpose here!" a guard bellowed in intimidation, trying to get the creature to stand down.

Loki could barely make out a silhouette of a face, but it wasn't very distinct. He did, however, see a daunting smirk crease the lips of whoever was standing in front of him.

"Who am I?" they breathed in such a ghostly manner that Loki had to suppress the shiver that shot down his spine. "I am everything," the figure started slowly walking backwards into the shadows with the guard, "you will ever fear."

Only the green eyes were visible, along with the arm choking the guard and the hand holding the dagger. The cloaked figure had been engulfed in darkness while the guard was barely standing on the edge of the pillar of light.

With the sound of metal slicing through skin, the blade was plunged into the guards neck, splitting open a vein and causing an eruption of blood to spray from the wound before gushing out uncontrollably. It painted the silver blade red almost instantly, and as the figure dropped him to the ground, there was a flourish of the train from the cloak and they disappeared back into the dark.

Thunder roared loudly as everyone stared, frozen in place. One guard, Bjorn, was brave enough to go after the killer.

"By order of the king, I demand you-"

His orders were cut off with the sickening sound of a dagger piercing through skin. There was a loud thud as another roar of thunder shook the palace. A piercing scream was heard over the thunder as it faded and was then brutally silence as the sound of metal ripping through skin met everyone's ears. The scream was reduced to a nauseating gurgle as they heard the disturbing sounds of someone murdering him in cold blood. There was a loud crack and suddenly all was quiet besides the shaky, uneasy breathing of those watching the darkness in horror and terror.

No one made a move. They waited for their eyes to pick up any sort of movements in the sea of black. It wasn't until the leading guard, the one who was now behind Loki, felt something nudge his foot.

His heart pounded to an abrupt stop as an overpowering sense of dread an anxiety fueled his terror. He breathed sporadically a few times before building up the nerve to look down towards his heels. He stiffened as the sight of Bjorn's head staring back up at him with dead eyes, the fear on his beheaded face frozen with the look of horror he had worn when he was slaughtered. Blood was seeping from the neck, which had so raggedly been sawed through and a knot of his spine where the bone had been snapped from his body was jutting out.

He dropped his staff and ran, screaming incoherently as he was swallowed in the darkness. The others grew more terrified as his screams grew distant, but with another flash of lightning that lasted longer than the ones previous, they watched and witnessed as a dagger flew through the air and sunk into the soft spot where the skull net neck, right where the helmet didn't protect. They saw him fall, but their light source was lost before he even hit the ground.

Loki turned on point, desperately searching the darkness surrounding he and the remaining 5 guards for the person who managed to have them scared stiff to the bone. His heart pounded wildly in his chest as adrenalin surged through his veins. He had faced Thanos and the Other without a problem, yet a faceless person wearing a cloak had his body quivering in fright on the inside of his hard exterior shell. He frantically scanned the darkness, searching for those glowing green irises that would give away this serial killer's position.

"Please!" another guard just behind Loki to his right called out, kneeling down to the ground and quaking in his armor. "Show us mercy! We cannot best you! Show us your mercy!" he begged at the darkness before him.

Those around him watched as he got down on both knees and almost jumped out of his skin when this haunting and daunting practically erupted from the shadows like a phantom materializing out of thin air behind him holding two daggers to his exposed throat. The way this prowler held the daggers was with such finesse and elegance that it was almost like they were showing off.

"You will see no mercy from me," the hooded person spat quietly before withdrawing one of the daggers so they could shove the guard's chin to his chest and then slit his throat before slipping back into the blackness.

Loki was able to get a good look at the ghost this time since the cloak hadn't covered the left shoulder properly since it had gotten caught behind their back on that side. It was a woman, the curves of her body and armor giving that away almost immediately. From what he could make out in the dim light, she was Asgardian; he could tell from the way she was built and her Asgardian style armor. The way her words rolled off her tongue like royalty was the same as everyone on this god forsaken realm spoke.

She looked like death; haunting, terrifying, inescapable death.

Loki suddenly felt something shove him into the darkness violently and he stumbled forward. His feet were suddenly forced out from under him and he ended up falling to the ground. He scuffled away from that pillar of light as fast as he could, hoping that maybe he could hide in the shadows. Another string of cries begging her to reconsider their deaths met his ears and he twisted his body to see what was happening. He watched in awe as two daggers were plunged into one of the four remaining guard's neck right next to his spine. She dropped him to the ground, face against the floor, and then she jumped on top of him, shoving the other dagger on the other side of his spine at his neck. Loki winced when he saw her precisely snap his neck with those daggers, using them like guillotines and pushing then towards until the bone broke under pressure. She didn't stop there, however. She sliced his head clean off and had blood pooling on the floor faster than she had snapped his neck.

_This is shameless slaughter, not murder._ Loki thought as he watched her knock the other three guards to the ground and crippled them so they couldn't get away from her. The last three were finished off quickly; she sliced open the vein at one's neck, plunged a blade through the bottom of another's chin and straight into their skull, and the last she had kneel before her as she took his head clean off.

He jumped when he saw those green eyes suddenly dart to him and stared at him like a hunter seeking prey. He bolted for the court door down the hall. He wouldn't put it past this she-monster to kill him and the rest of the palace single handedly. He ripped the door open and bolted inside, not bothering to shut the door behind him. He knew if she was drawn out of the dark, the guards that would be in that room could take her down easily by mere numbers.

His father was sitting in his throne and his mother, brother, Heimdall, Sif and her warriors three were all there waiting for him, along with half the palace's guards as well.

"Loki!" Odin said in confusion as Loki briskly walked down the flight of stairs towards them. "What have you done to the guards?"

"That actually wasn't me this time," Loki spoke matter of factly as his feet left the bottom step of stairs. "Someone should really fix those front gates; they let just about anyone in these days," Loki spouted off.

"Loki, are you alright?" Frigga, his adopted mother questioned in concern as Loki stopped before the two rows of guards lining the walkway to the throne.

"If I was, would I be here?" he smirked darkly. "Let me say this: I didn't make that mess in the hall, though I would love to say I did."

Odin's eyes darted back to the door and grew wide as he suddenly rose from his seat. Loki went to look over his shoulder to see what his sudden alarm was aimed to, but all he saw was an arm suddenly grab the back of his neck and drill his forehead into the ground as they hurled through the air.

_For someone who can only work in absolute darkness, they are fairly stupid for running in after me as they have_ Loki thought as he groaned. He didn't move, not wanting to make his splitting headache any worse.

The guards jumped into action and attacked this stranger like a pack of ravenous dogs.

"What is the meaning of such treason?" Odin roared over the sudden chaos. He watched with widened eyes as his guards swarmed the hooded figure, and the sight of her was swallowed by a sea of gold. He smiled.

"Unless you want a blade to the throat, I suggest you all back away! MOVE!" he heard a woman's voice yell over the commotion. Odin's smile faded instantly. "DO IT! ALL OF YOU! Back away, or make an orderly line and I'll have you all one by one until no one is left!"

The guards all halted and gave her confused looks. One of them actually lunged at the woman, and what happened after that happened so fast, it left most of them wondering what the hell happened.

Odin couldn't really see it since she was engulfed in the sea of gold capes, but all the familiar noises of metal slicing through skin shrilled through the air, and the deafening crack of bone being split soon followed.

His guards suddenly backed away quickly, parting the way and allowing Odin to finally see what was going on. He clenched his jaw and his breathing hitched when he saw her pinning a now lifeless guard on the floor; she crouched on his back with two daggers sticking out of the guard's back. The entire room gasped when she took his head clean off and send it rolling across the floor.

"Now back away," she suddenly stood up and growled, pointing her two daggers at the guards surrounding her. They did so slowly.

Loki, who was still lying on the floor suddenly felt himself being snatched up off the ground by his neck and was dragged closer to the throne by this strange woman and was then thrown back to the ground once more. Before he was able to get a better look at his captor, he felt the sharp heel of her boot press against the soft spot behind his head.

"His soul is mine for the taking," he heard a menacing hiss from the woman as his skull was pressed into the gold floor. "Not. Yours."

"How dare you walk into my palace so disrespectfully!" Odin gasped in anger at the audacity of this woman. "How dare you disrespect my son as you are!"

"Hold your tongue!" she yelled back at him, silencing his rage immediately. "You have no right making such rash accusations when you yourself never gave him an ounce of respect since you found him-"

"That is NOT how you speak to a KING!"

"SILENCE!" she bellowed back even louder than Odin had. "You will listen to my orders and follow each and every one of them. If you fail, then I will paint the walls red with all of your blood along with anyone else who dares challenge me!" She pointed a dagger at Odin.

He scowled, angry that this woman had taken command of the situation so quickly. "Who are you?" he demanded softly.

He froze when he saw the glowing green eyes appear from underneath her hood. He could barely make out a haunting smirk as it curled across this woman's lips.

"I am your worst nightmare."


	2. The Harbinger's Call

"What blasphemy is this!" Odin roared at her answer. It was so childish in his eyes. "What is your purpose here, you insolent girl!"

"Such harsh words, your highness," she hissed in a mocking tone. "Dismiss your guards. They will not be needed here," she lowered her weapon slightly.

Loki tried to shift under her heeled boots only to have her press his skull into the ground even harder.

"Oh nononono, stop that, Loki," she tutted. "I am not here to kill you. Stop your struggling," she chastised him as she planted her other foot on his back so that she was standing on him instead of over him. He winced as the sharp heel dug into the back of his head.

Odin reluctantly dismissed his guards, and all was quiet until the last of the guards left.

"You will not kill your son," she ordered just as thunder started rolling overhead once more. "If his life is to be ended by anyone, it will be at my hand, am I clear?"

Odin scoffed. "Would you reveal your face?" He blatantly ignored her request.

He saw that smirk from underneath her hood. "What fun is there in that?"

"You speak as we do. You are built as we are," he stated firmly. "You have an Asgardian cloak on your shoulders and Asgardian armor. Yet, I have never seen your face here, correct?"

"Ooo, smart man," the woman chuckled.

Odin's lip curled slightly. "You are not of Asgard, yet you look as one of us," he spoke as he walked down the steps of his throne. "As king, I demand to know who you are and what you are doing here."

She let out a low chuckle from deep in her throat. He saw her green eyes dart around quickly, surveying her surroundings before she pulled her hood back.

"Ah, she reveals her face," Odin spoke quietly. "You know, a face like that isn't found among the common people here in Asgard. A face without flaws: that is a sign of power in your veins, correct?" Odin mused, setting the staff on the ground with a loud noise once he reached the bottom step.

"Ask your gatekeeper," she said smartly, which made every eye turn to Heimdall. "He knows more about me than I do."

Loki again squirmed under her feet. "Stop that," she said, pressing the heel she had on his back into his spine uncomfortably. _This woman is begging me to sink an ice spike into her skull _he thought as he let out a growl. _Wait for the opportune moment. She will get what is coming to her. _

"Heimdall, what is this?" Odin eyed his gatekeeper's face with concern.

"You must listen to her-"

"Who is she? What is the purpose for such uproar?" Odin bellowed.

Heimdall waited before he answered. "She is one of us, and she is to be known as Harbinger," he said calmly.

"Of what, fancy cloaks?" Sif snorted at Heimdall's answer as she rolled her eyes.

"Death."

This immediately silenced Sif's laughter.

_How delightful._ Loki rolled his eyes.

"Paired with the abilities she has acquired elsewhere, the gods have deemed her worthy to receive the title as Goddess of Darkness."

Silence fell for a moment before Odin burst into laughter. He grabbed his staff and headed back up to the throne.

"Suit yourself," the cool voice of this woman spoke.

Every source of light in the room extinguished, and the place was plunged into darkness.

Loki had his own plans however. He wasn't expecting the lights to go out, but when they did, he bucked her off his back before she was able to move. He heard the yelp of surprise from her as she made contact with the floor, but when he tried to grab her cloak, she had already rolled out of his reach.

_Damn!_ He cursed as he pounded the floor with a clenched fist. "You twisted harlot, I'm not through with you!" he called out in a growl as he stood up.

"Sorry. It would've been so anticlimactic had I let you trick me like that," her voice echoed in the distance to his left.

He aimed an ice spike in the direction of her voice, but he knew he had missed when he heard it shatter against the wall.

"I'm not here to kill you, Loki-"

He let another ice spike fly, and it again shattered against the wall. "And I am not too fond of having a vile tramp as you literally walk all over me. Oh no, I will have none of that!" he snarled, his eyes darting wildly in the dark.

_All I need is to see your eyes and you will be dead, you wench_ he thought bitterly, narrowing his eyes as he scanned the dark.

She tutted. "Aw, did I-"

He threw another spike and it shattered.

"-make the poor prince-"

Another spike.

"-Loki angry-"

And another.

"Holy Jesus, you're a really good shot."

And yet another.

"Loki, stop this-"

He hit his target that time, and a grin curled up his cheeks when he heard the wince and groan escape her lips.

"Lucky shot," she groaned.

"Keep telling yourself that, dear," he snidely shot back.

"Stop this, Loki. Let's talk-" She barely dodged another ice spike.

"I don't talk with frivolous whores who don't know their place," he hissed as he let another spike fly. He was blinded by trying to repair his pride. Never had he let someone pin him down as she did. Now he'd get her back for that.

"Loki, you haven't even seen her!" Thor spoke up out of the darkness.

Loki smirked. "Who says I need to?" He caught a glimpse of her green glowing eyes and he tried to get her once more. Her eyes disappeared and he heard the ice shatter once more.

"You might want to," he heard her hiss in his ear just behind him. He swirled around and tried to grab her. His arm only swiped through thin air.

"Stop these ridiculous games! You cannot waltz in here and shove my nose to the ground and get away with it. I refuse to let you get away with it!"

"You've already shot me once; must you really do it again?" he heard her say from behind him. If he hadn't had the shackles on his wrist, he would have got her, but that time he didn't even try.

"Oh no, darling, much worse will be in your future should I get ahold of you."

"Ah, now if you've seen my face, maybe you'd realize your mistake in that statement," she said from behind him yet again.

He growled and swiped at her again, only getting a fist full of air. "Then show yourself, you pitiful excuse for a woman!" he growled.

He suddenly felt something soft wrap around his neck tightly as she wound something around him. He turned on his heels to grab at her once again and his hands met thin air once again. The lights suddenly came back on and the room was once again bathed in a soft glow.

Loki looked around him wildly, looking for the one who had just toyed with him. He snatched what she had tied around his neck off him and held it out in front of him to see what it was.

His scarf. The one he had once enchanted and given to…

His fury suddenly disappeared. "Wha…" he stared at it with a furrowed brow.

"Get down from there!" he heard his farther order and Loki turned to face the throne. "Get off, you unruly girl!"

"Sorry!"

Loki watched as the woman got off the arm of the throne where she was sitting coyly. His heart grew heavy in his chest as he studied her face. The similarities were…shocking…

"You know who I am, Loki," she said fluidly as she walked down from the throne and approached him.

A snarl curled on his lips and his arm shot out to her throat, his fingers closing off her breathing with a vice grip. "Don't toy with me, you pathetic quim," he hissed as he roughly held her to him, his eyes almost black at this point. "Stop pretending to be someone you aren't, you foo-"

"Loki."

Her hands were clutching his wrists tightly as she gasped for a breath of air. He loosened his grip and that sudden burst of anger that caused him to lash out melted away from that look that was in her eyes. The snarl slipped off his face as he studied her face. "Who are you?" he whispered in disbelief, still holding her loosely by the throat.

"You know who I-"

"Tell me," he said in a hushed tone, closing his eyes and shaking his head briefly before meeting her gaze.

"Say it," she whispered back, finally able to breathe again.

A faint sneer briefly flashed across his lips before vanishing once again. "Where did you get this?" he asked, holding the scarf for her to see it.

"You gave it to me-"

He tightened his grip on her throat once again. "Do I look that dim to you?"

"Must you talk so much?" she croaked out. He withdrew his hand from her throat like she had burned him. He turned away and walked a few feet away from her before he stopped, clutching the scarf at his side.

"Loki, what's going on?" Frigga broke the silence.

He swirled around but ignored his mother's question. "Why are you here?" he furrowed his brow. "How…are you here?"

"I am here to convince you not to do this," she spoke while walking towards him, her cloak billowing behind her. She took out a dagger and grabbed one of his wrists. He flinched back from her when she moved the dagger towards him. She didn't allow him to pull his wrists from her grasp and instead help his wrist tighter. "S.H.I.E.L.D has reason to believe-"

He scoffed. "S.H.I.E.L.D. All the more reason for me to die tonight," he rolled his eyes as she used the dagger to unlock the shackle and take it off his wrist.

"Loki, I came here to save you."

"I do not want to be saved-"

"Well neither did I, yet you somehow managed to defy all odds, turn me into a goddess with a destructive side that kills anything that gets in her way," she said firmly while grabbing his other wrist and clicking the shackle off. "I never wanted to be saved, yet here I am. I will not let you die tonight-"

"That is not your decision," Odin broke in, his voice echoing across the hall.

Orthani swirled around to face the king. "Can you not have an ounce of compassion?" she said softly, walking away from Loki and towards the throne.

Odin looked taken aback. Her eyes no longer had the harsh green glow to them as they did before, and her brow was creased in concern. "You expect me to listen to a girl who made my guards look like a common law enforcement?" he jabbed at her.

"It was only a state of mind," she said. He furrowed his brow and she waved it off. "It's a complicated power. I'm new to this whole superhuman thing. Heimdall believes it's just a…thing-look."

"Stop your incoherent stuttering, woman!" Odin silenced her. "Are you aware of what you've done?"

She nodded. "Treason. Murder. I believe I also just released a prisoner as well."

"Why?"

"Because you _laughed_ at me when I walked in here, you twit!-"

"Orthani," Loki said firmly from behind her. He had walked up behind her and placed a hand at her waist. "Hold your tongue," he said softly in her ear, reaching up to hang the scarf over her shoulders. "I doubt I could talk him out of my punishment; I do not need you winding up with my same fate here tonight."

She pursed her lips and looked down at the ground. She exhaled through her nose and spoke over her shoulder. "I will speak to you on a more personal note later," she said in a low voice. She saw him nod out of the corner in her eye and noticed the look on his face. That sense of undeniable pride he was once walking with was now gone. It was like he had surrendered. "Odin Allfather, you cannot kill him-"

"And what is your reason behind that statement?" Odin said almost immediately after she spoke.

"Why must I give you a reason?"

"Because I cannot execute him if someone has proper reasons behind it," Odin said simply. "I do not want this for him. Give me an answer that will suffice, and I will be forced to reconsider his punishment."

She smirked. "Considering the fact I am not at liberty to discuss the S.H.I.E.L.D case, then we might be out of luck-"

"He is being a coward and escaping another fate-" Thor suddenly walked out from where he stood and joined Orthani and Loki in front of the throne. Orthani grabbed Loki's arm quickly, not having to see his face to know that Thor calling him a coward had gotten him fired up. She grabbed onto his bicep tightly to hold him back. "Fury has not yet found out much more, but we do know the Tesseract could bring the entire universe into indefinite war."

"What does this have to do with Loki?" Odin questioned.

"He knows more about it than any of us. Killing him could very well kill the universe as we know it," Thor said desperately.

Odin remained silent for a moment as if he was contemplating what Thor had said. "Why bring her?" He pointed to Orthani. "Why have her slaughter my guards? Was the bloodshed really necessary?"

"You would not have let her into the city otherwise," Loki spoke up. All eyes turned to him suddenly.

"He is right," Thor backed his brother up. "She is one of us now. If we send her back to Midgard-"

"We are not sending her back to Midgard," Loki growled under his breath.

"Just a moment ago, you wanted her dead!" Sif suddenly outburst, stalking over to the growing group on the floor right in front of Odin's throne. "What changed all of a sudden?"

"Nothing that regards you," Loki said quickly.

"Treason is still treason-"

"It was necessary."

"Enough! All of you!" Odin silenced the group. "I cannot have such a brutal and ruthless killer running amuck in these halls-"

"Heimdall and I will handle her should darkness take over her control," Thor interrupted. "But we need her here. The three of us; Orthani, Heimdall and I will take any punishment if it is given to us, but sending her off back to Earth could be detrimental to all of us."

Odin looked as the group intently, his brain working overtime at what he should do.

"All of you: go to bed. This cannot be decided in one night," Odin stood up from his throne. "Sif, go and retrieve the guards and have them return Loki to his cell."

Sif nodded, quickly kneeled and snapped her arm to her chest, and then hurried off.

"You." He pointed directly to Orthani. "You will follow my wife up to the towers and I will speak to you privately."

Orthani swallowed hard, a sudden nervousness falling in the pit of her stomach.

"Thor, you will escort them. I do not wish to find another corpse amongst these halls, understand?" Odin revised his orders.

She and Thor nodded. Before Sif was able to return with the guards, Loki spun Orthani around to face him before she had a chance to walk away from him. He pulled her to him and captured her lips with his swiftly. He could tell just by her immediate acceptance of that kiss, and how she kissed him back with the same desperate fervor, he knew one hundred percent that this was her. No matter how subtly different she looked from the last time he saw her, this was definitely the woman he had once seen dead before him.

This was her. This was _his_ Orthani; just brought to his level of superhuman mortality and built to the stature of what a goddess should be. He didn't know if he was happy about the fact she was standing before him alive and breathing, or upset about the fact she might be pulled from his arms yet again.

He felt a hand on his shoulder pull him away and he couldn't bring himself to fight it. The guards were back to take him to his cage.

"I'll be down to talk to you soon, I promise," Orthani told him as he was pulled away from her.

"I would hope so," he said with a faint smile on his face. "For either I am hallucinating, or you have a lot to explain to me, darling," he spoke as he was locked up in another set of shackles.

"Just don't…give in. Alright?"

"I won't if you won't."

She let a faint smile curl across her lips as something tugged on her arm. She allowed Thor to walk her over to his mother, where they both escort her where Odin wished to see her. Loki was being tugged in the opposite direction towards the prison and back towards his cage.

Loki didn't know what to think; in fact, he wasn't going to think until he got to speak with her.

* * *

"You have caused quite an upset here," Odin's voice snapped Orthani from her thoughts as he walked towards her. She was standing on the balcony looking out over the city below her.

She gave a half-hearted shrug. "I like making an entrance," she said smoothly as she turned around to face the Allfather.

"I can tell," he said with an emotionless face. "Tell me, from one person to another, who are you and what are you doing here in Asgard?"

She opened her mouth to speak, but Odin lifted his hand for her to hush. She snapped her jaw shut.

"I do not need a restatement of Thor's explanation, nor do I need something that Heimdall will say to me. So please, tell me why you aren't the monster who killed 10 of my men tonight."

She smirked. "If you're asking me what makes me what Heimdall claims my title is, you will have to ask him." That response made Odin smile. "I am not holding a dagger to your throat, nor am I threatening to destroy your city or raid your palace," she rattled off. "Most importantly, I haven't tried to smuggle your son out as well. What more can I tell you?"

Odin chuckled. "That isn't good enough. You know it just as well as I."

"Alright then. Send me on back to Earth. Give Loki just another reason to hate you even more than he already does," she said with a slight bit of sarcasm.

His brow creased. "What are you to him?" he said as Frigga watched the two from the corner.

"I am to him what he is to me. Beyond that, it isn't to be discussed until I get to talk to him," she said smartly.

Odin let out another chuckle. "That isn't going to keep you here very long."

"Odin, please-" Frigga spoke, stepping out of the shadows. "Can you not give her a chance?"

"I could. I would rather not see an increasing amount of bloodshed should she relapse back into that monster she was before. That is only a conditional thing, is it?" Odin shifted his attention back and forth.

"Why else would Thor have caused a thunderstorm?" she smirked.

He nodded and started pacing the floor. "So let me get this clear; Heimdall said you were killed in the line of battle during the war on Earth against the Chitauri."

"Correct."

"Loki brought you back?"

Orthani nodded. "See? He really is good for something-"

"It is forbidden outside these gates," he interrupted. "The fact that you are standing before us today is a miracle. Had our forefathers disagreed with your return as a part of our ranks here, you would be cowering in a corner in so much pain, you'd be begging for death. You are lucky."

She clasped her hands behind her back. "Which is why I am begging you to let me stay."

Odin walked over to his vanity dresser in his chambers and took off his golden cape. "You are bold, asking to reside here in my house."

"I wouldn't be asking if Loki wanted otherwise," she shrugged.

"So Loki is your reason for everything," Odin walked over to where she stood.

"No. S.H.I.E.L.D has suspicions that he is hiding something about the Tesseract that is prudent to the protection of the realms. That would be a bit more than just Loki," she smartly replied.

Odin studied her face briefly before speaking again. "If I let you stay here, you must promise me this one thing," he proposed, lifting a finger. "Know your place here."

She looked from side to side quickly. "That's it? Know my place?" Odin nodded. "Not 'no more killing people,' or 'don't help my son' or 'no learning magic because we don't trust you,' just know my place…"

Odin nodded once again. "Know your place."

She shrugged in approval. "I can do that."

"Then you are welcome here as long as you stay," he said as warmly as he could muster up.

"Thank you, Allfather," she bowed. "Now do I need permission to go and see Loki in his cell, or am I allowed to walk in unannounced?"

He stared at her for a moment. She was strange. No one had ever really given this much care for Loki enough to keep pestering him about seeing him. "I'll let my guards know you will be visiting. May I give you a word of caution?"

Orthani raised her brow in question.

"I do not know what you see in him, but Loki isn't one to be messed with. He is a master at deception-" He stopped when he saw her smirking widely. "Is something I am saying humorous to you"

She shook her head and let out a chuckle. "I think you'll find I'm not just anyone to him," she smirked. She bowed her head again and swiftly walked out of the room.

* * *

**A/N: **Hello my pretties. It got kinda slow here a bit, but you can't slaughter everyone all the time, unfortunately. x)

Thanks for all the reviews, you guys! Unfortunately, I'm running slightly behind on writing chapters, so I haven't replied to any tonight. I'M SORRY. v.v I'll start replying to everyone's reviews next chapter. As of right now, I just need to get a jump on the next few chapters, BUT I DO LOVE YOU ALL, I thank you graciously for following me all this way so far, and I will speak to those who review tomorrow. Cross my heart and hope to die. x) Thanks so much you guys, and I love you all.


	3. Reuniting Bonnie and Clyde

Loki rubbed his wrists tenderly, they being rubbed raw from the metal shackles fastened tightly around them. With every twist of his wrists he could feel them chafe at the skin they were clamped around. He soon gave up trying to relieve the aching from the shackles and rubbed his forehead. He closed his eyes tightly for a few seconds before opening them again.

"You look rough," a voice made him jump, startled from the person that had managed to sneak up on him. Orthani was crouched down at the gate of his cell, her fingers wrapped around the bars.

He was able to let a faint smile curl over his lips. "Why is it that we are always separated by a single barrier every time we are reunited?" he said, looking away from her and down to the ground right in front of him.

She smiled. "Were you not paying attention when the guards took about 13 daggers and knives off of me?" she raised a brow as a guard walked over and unlocked the bared door.

He couldn't help but laugh a bit at that. _Oh Orthani, that definitely sounds like the woman I know._ He sat back against the wall as she was let in.

She grabbed the two strings that held her cloak firmly to her neck and pulled, untying the knot in one swift movement. She took it off her shoulders and hung it between the gaps of the gated door when the guard closed and locked it once more.

"You. Here. Now," she heard him demand when she spun around to hang up her cloak.

"Oooo, little demanding now, aren't we," she said coyly, swirling around on the balls of her feet.

"Considering the last time I saw you, you were lying dead in my arms, I believe I have a right to be a little demanding," he raised his brow as she walked over to him.

She chuckled. "Ah, so I owe a debt to you now, since you've successfully done the impossible." She rolled her eyes and put a hand on her hip as she stood directly in front of him.

"Have you convinced father to let you stay?" He held out his hand, wincing slightly as the cuffs rubbed at his skin.

"Barely, but yes," she shrugged her head to the side.

"Then you owe me nothing but an explanation," he grinned as she put her hand in his and he pulled her towards the bench he was sitting on. She reluctantly sat down next to him. "You had me scared absolutely stiff in that hallway, and the next moment, you were calm."

She exhaled. "Thor ceased his stormage," she rolled her eyes. "When you ended up nailing me with that spike, I knew it was over. No use using a power that wasn't to its full capacity-"

"Is that supposed to make sense to me?" Loki raised his brow.

"Heimdall only explained it as this: I was given two things. One was the whole 'Goddess of Darkness' bit, where if I become shrouded in even the slightest shadow, I can disappear right before your eyes. I make absolutely no noise should I so choose," she spoke, brushing her hair out of her face.

Loki looked at her expectantly.

"Then there's the Harbinger: Bringer of Death. That was given to me based on my already honed in talents as an assassin. I guess the whole 'Darkness' bit was too, now that I think about it," she trailed off.

Loki looked around, waiting for her to continue. She never did. "Well?" She looked up from where she was staring at the ground. "I can tell by the lines on your face that you've not yet told me all you know. Go on."

She chuckled. "You're a quick one. You mix the two, and it creates…well…what you saw in that hall," she said seriously, leaning forward and resting her arms on her knees.

He furrowed his brow in concern.

"You mix the two, and it's uncontrollable. I go into this state every so often that I just have a mentality of kill everything in sight, no mercy and no questions asked," she rubbed her forehead roughly. "I become unstoppable. I slaughtered an entire wing at S.H.I.E.L.D within the first week I was there because I honestly didn't know what I was doing."

Loki grinned. "Are you sure that you didn't know what you were doing? That sounds vaguely familiar," he chuckled lightly.

She laughed. "It's not a good thing, I'll tell you that. We had to wait until that darkness took over to do this tonight, and Thor had to cause a storm to make sure the moons were hidden. Otherwise this would've flopped," she leaned back against the wall. "Heimdall believes if I don't gain control over it, it could wind up destroying me in the end…" she trailed off, crossing her arms over her chest.

The grin fell off Loki's lips slowly. "What else did Heimdall tell you?" he said softly, looking down at the ground.

"I'm apparently supposed to be good with sorcery. You'll have to teach me some time," she smirked.

The grin returned. "Are you sure I haven't turned you into me?" he joked. "Black hair, green eyes. My god, it's almost as if I am looking at a female version of myself," he said as he shifted his body to face her. He winced slightly when the cuffs rubbed at his wrists.

She laughed. "Coincidence, I believe," she shook her head lightly. She noticed the wince cross his face and furrowed her brow. She reached down to her boot, reached inside the lip and pulled out a tiny switchblade. She looked over her shoulder at the door to see if the guards were paying attention. When she saw that they weren't, she turned back to Loki and grabbed his wrists. She quickly popped one of the shackles open and then quickly closed it again, readjusting it so that it wasn't constricting his wrists. She did the same to the other one, flicked the blade closed, and then returned it to her leather boot that went up to her calf.

Loki gave a devilish grin. "Always playing both sides, aren't we," he playfully taunted her. He chuckled when she rolled her eyes. "I must ask you, however. You are alright with this…new form, correct? I have not brought you into something you do not wish to be in, have I?" He flexed his wrists, rolling them around and massaging the skin that had been rubbed raw from the friction.

"I'll get used to it," she shrugged, standing up and heading to the gate. "I might not be happy with it now, but once I start actually getting into things that I couldn't do as a human, I think I'll enjoy it more than I am now." She went to grab her cloak.

"Stay, shall you?" Loki said before she was able to pull it from where it hung. "There is not a war to be fought, nor is there anything else to attend to."

She turned back around to face him. "And what of the renegotiation of your punishment? That's slightly important, isn't it?" she smirked lightly.

He gave a half-hearted shrug. "Thor will see to it that I receive the best possible deal. I have nothing to worry about," he moved his hands as he talked, and when he moved one too far, it yanked the other one to the side from the shackles. He winced slightly when it irritated the skin. "I might not be in the best of standing with my brother, but I know he cares enough to not let father get away with an unfair bargain now that he's given the chance."

She shifted her weight onto one leg and studied his face for a moment. She watched as his tongue flicked over his bottom lip quickly before he gave her a smoldering look and stood up.

"Come now, dear. You and I both know that when my father revises his verdict, no one will be allowed down here until I have carried out the punishment put forth," he said, his eyes sparkling when the light hit them right. He saw her bite her lip as he slowly stepped towards her. He gave her a wicked smirk.

She raised a brow and cocked her head to the side ever so slightly. "What are you playing at, Loki," she spoke in a low voice.

He shrugged his shoulders and looked away innocently as he clasped his hands in front of him. "Reading your reactions towards me," he spoke as his eyes flicked back up to meet her gaze. "Forgive me, I still cannot bring myself to fully believe you are standing in front of me," he took another step towards her so that he was crowding her against the bared door of his cell. "However, I've been around you for quite some time; I know the effects I have on you."

She flashed him a smirk of her own. "You think so?"

He hung his lips over hers before chuckling darkly. "You, woman, have vexed me against my approval, yet I have no desire to resist. Of course I read you like an open book. Whatever else would you expect?"

"So you are testing me."

"I never said that."

She could tell he was testing her when he closed the gap between them, his lips captured hers with heat. He had every right to test her; she was back from the dead, which was an unbelievable feat. It was hard for her to believe this wasn't a dream she was having in the afterlife.

_Prick, _she thought as she held back a smirk when he nipped her bottom lip and took advantage of her parted lips to force that silver tongue of his through. Instead of looping her arms around his neck as she normally would, she held them behind her back where she knew he couldn't get to them due to the shackles restraining his reach.

She felt his lips curl into a smirk. "Playing games, are we?" he murmured in between the split second their lips were parted from each other. She knew him too well; well enough to know that he would use her arms to pin her to the iron bars. Oh she was good. She knew him well and it drove him crazy.

She let a chuckle reverberate in her throat. "Would you expect any less of me?" she spoke coyly in between those brief few moments he wasn't teasing her with his tongue. He let a soft, low growl run through his throat. She frustrated him to no end, though he couldn't help but become addicted to feeling her lips moving with his, her tongue writhing in time with his, bodies locked together and hearts beating wildly at they drove each other crazy. At this point, addicted was probably an understatement.

She couldn't help but laugh, and he dropped his lips to her neck just below her jaw. "Did you just growl at me?"

And there it was; the one reaction he wanted to get out of her. He had caught her off guard and the small whimper that left her throat came out before she was able to suppress it. She clapped a hand over her mouth quickly and that trance he had put her under was broken almost immediately.

He felt his lips curl into a smirk as his teeth nipped at her skin. "I believe you just got beaten at your own game," he muttered into her skin before letting his lips press against her neck once last time, his tongue lashing out and swirling against her skin in revel of his victory.

"Bastard," she rolled her eyes, running her hand through her hair. She had lost at her own game, but then again, she had been playing against the God of Mischief. She never had a chance.

"It's good to have you back," he whispered in her ear before kissing the top of her head and pulling away from her.

"You and that silver tongue of yours," she chuckled, playfully pushing his chest. "All the more reason for me to leave you in here."

He put up his hands in surrender. "You may do what you wish, Orthani. I am simply stating that even though you are alive, it could be quite a while before I get to speak to you as we are now. Humor me. Stay."

She hesitated before she took her hand off her cloak. "You're despicable," she chuckled as she went back to sit on the bench.

He put his hands out. "The one and only," he spoke with pride as a grin spread on his face. He leaned up against the wall behind him. "Gods, you look different," he mused out loud, his head shaking from side to side slightly. "I still find it difficult to believe this is actually you and not some extremely talented prankster," he forced a smile as he went to sit down next to her.

"It's definitely me," she smiled. "The one and only. I find it hard to believe it as well, so you aren't alone," she said as she ran her fingers through her hair.

He let his eyes wander over her; it was like he was trying to get used to her all over again. It was the same woman, just with a little different look to her. His eyes swept over the side of her rib cage where they were drawn to the damage done to her armor, which was almost like a strange cross between that of a warrior and that of a sorcerer. The leather corset had metal plates attached to them that would flex with the movements of her body, and she had thin silver arm guards on her otherwise bare arms. It was somewhat similar to what Sif would wear except with more leather to silence her movements. Yet something had managed to punch through a small gap in between two of the thin metal plates protecting her ribs.

He remembered he had gone on a craze trying to kill her just earlier. "I have not injured you too harshly, have I?" He reached out to run his thumb over the rugged leather that tore when the spike managed to rip through it.

She flinched back from his touch and a stifled noise got stuck in her throat. "Easy now. It's still healing, you twit. That hurts."

"Brother," a voice suddenly spoke from the gate of the cell, snapping the two from their conversation.

Loki rolled his eyes when he saw Thor standing in front of them. "Ah, of course. I forgot, in such a place as Asgard, privacy between two individuals doesn't exist. How can I be of use to you, Thor," he snarked, getting up from the bench and walking over into the corner farthest away from the door.

"Father and I have come to an agreement. He wishes to have your say in the matter," Thor said, ignoring his annoyed jabs.

Loki exhaled quickly as he sat down, resting his back to the wall and resting his elbows on his knees. "Go on," he waved him on.

"Two months in prison. No visitors-"

Loki smirked. "What did I tell you, lovely," he said to Orthani.

"Two months in absolute solitude. Do you accept?" Thor once again ignored his antics.

Loki stared at his brother briefly with a devilish grin. "Give me time to contemplate the offer," he waved him off simply.

"Brother-"

"What can you do? Lock me up for not cooperating?" he taunted. Even in prison, he had the upper hand. Or at least, now he did.

He heard Thor growl from the gate. "Orthani, did he speak to you about ours as well?"

She shook her head. She knew this was coming; for one can't walk into a city and slaughter people without some sort of way to pay for her crimes. There was no way she could escape that.

"Two months, same as Loki," Thor said simply.

Orthani nodded. "Accepted. I'm shocked he has not given me more, but that I am grateful for-"

"Declined," Loki said firmly. He wasn't overly fond of the thought of Orthani suffering through the torture of Asgardian prison whilst fighting the demon she had acquired. He wasn't too fond of kicking back and finding out how that would end, either. And what if Thanos found him in the middle of everyone's prison sentence? Surely he would have delivered two of the most powerful individuals into the hands of one of the worst enemies imaginable. If that happened, the universe would surely be brought to its end.

Thor's eyes snapped to him in shock. "Loki, you have no say in this matter."

"I will not accept any agreement unless she is pardoned," he said seriously, the quirk in his attitude suddenly gone.

"Loki, I'll be fine, it's not a problem-"

"Not in my eyes."

Silence fell between the group briefly before Thor turned to order a guard to retrieve his father.

"Loki," Orthani stood up and walked over to him. "You don't need to do this. I came into this city knowing the risks of what I was about to do, and I must pay for them." She sunk to the floor to sit beside him, her legs folded underneath her.

"You have been locked away long enough because of me," he spoke without even so much as glancing at her. "Having you back, after being so graciously allowed to let you be reborn into such caliber of what is considered to be superhuman, I refuse to let you spend the first two months rotting away in this hell," he said softly only for her to hear. "You'll only revert to your monstrous, murderous mistress I saw earlier; and I honestly don't want to see you rip yourself apart night after night you spend locked away here."

She forced him to look at her. "And ripping apart others is better than ripping myself apart how?"

"If you honestly think you are too weak to control this, then you must open your eyes. You have defeated death; if you really were too weak to learn to take control over such power, the gods would not have given it to you to begin with," he stated. "You are better off out there, not behind bars."

She couldn't fight him on that one. She exhaled and against her better judgment, nuzzled into his neck. "Just don't screw this up," she muttered.

His brows creased as he gave her a look, wondering what the hell she was doing. His eyes darted around the room, slightly taken aback at how she had just curled up beside him. He couldn't really do anything since his wrists were restrained, and even if he knew how he was supposed to react to her, he wouldn't be able to do it. He just rested his chin on the top of her head. "I most likely will. Don't I always?"

"He won't do anything until her sentence is lifted. I can't say I blame him," Thor interrupted their little moment as his father walked down the stairs.

"And what does he suggest?" Odin's voice softly echoed across the halls.

"Let me serve her time for her," Loki spoke as Odin came into his view.

"Oh god, here we go," Orthani rolled her eyes and withdrew from him, putting a hand to her forehead.

Loki shot her a dangerous glare before continuing what he was saying. "If she honestly is what her powers can make her become, a cell won't hold her after a month of such terrible living conditions. It'll only destroy her faster."

"That would be unfair for your brother," Odin narrowed his eyes. "If you volunteer yourself to serve the time of one, you must also serve the other's as well.

"Of course. Anything to keep me locked up while Thor runs free. She hasn't been here but a few hours and you already use her as leverage?" Loki said flatly.

"They both are accomplices to the same crime. To allow one to be pardoned while the other serves their time is a crime itself," Odin said calmly. This wasn't the first time he had someone plea to pardon someone from prison.

"And Heimdall?"

"He is our gatekeeper. To leave our borders unguarded would be a fatal mistake."

Loki snarled. _What more could I ask for? _He thought to himself. _By the time I would be let out, this entire ordeal will be long forgotten. Not many will care by that time. _

_I will be able to work silently without watchful eyes of those who are overly curious. _

_Six months. That isn't incredibly long. It is enough for me to concoct a plan to escape Thanos, and that is all I need. _

_Orthani won't drive herself into madness either. It seems like I have only one choice in the matter._

"Go on, lock us up, Allfather," Orthani made the decision on her own. "We will rightfully pay for the crimes we have committed."

"Yes, and I will standby as I lose you for what would be the third time," Loki said sarcastically. She was silenced, for she couldn't argue with him on that. "Six months."

Odin nodded. "Are you positive you wish to do this?"

"No, but I know that I do not wish to see her devoured by her own gifts. Give her my sorcery teachers; let her learn how to control this destructive side so she can fight by our sides. Then let her pay for her crimes. Until then, I shall serve her sentence. Is that clear?" Loki ordered firmly, getting a dangerous glare from Orthani in the process.

_I am going to kill him, _she thought to herself when he ignored her gaze.

The room fell silent once more as everyone exchanged glances. "So be it then," Odin nodded.

* * *

"Why are you doing this?" Orthani said softly as the guard locked the cell gate back, now barricading Loki in his cell alone. Thor and Odin had left just moments before.

"Because you don't know what's good for yourself," Loki muttered from the back of the cell where he was still sitting in the corner.

She shook her head and pursed her lips. "You need to stop looking out for me. I can take care of myself perfectly fine-"

"I'll do so when you stop being the valiant hero that has to abide by every rule regardless of what might be best for you," he interrupted her softly.

She snorted through her nose. "I know you, Loki. You don't do this sort of things for people." She crouched to the ground and grasped ahold of the iron bars.

He smirked. "Go and inquire my brother. He was there when I broke after seeing you dead. He will tell you. Do not fight me on this, Orthani."

"Loki, I-"

"Silence. You have saved my life. I owe you a debt and I am not one to stay in one's debt for long," he interrupted her, picking himself up off the ground and walking over to the iron door.

"You brought me back to life! You owe me nothing!"

He held up a hand to get her to shush. "If I don't, then what I have done will mean nothing. If you get torn apart by this just a few months into your new life, all I have done is meaningless. This is my vanity protecting my right to boast and gloat over accomplishing the impossible," he said as she stood up. _What on earth did I just say? Was that even comprehensible? _He shook his head. _She's got a lasting effect on me, damn the woman. _

"Liar," she muttered, glaring at him from narrowed eyes. "You drive me insane, you know that?"

He smirked. _I can never get anything by her. Kiss her once, and my tongue turns to lead. _"That was absolutely atrocious, wasn't it? Do me a favor. Lead your beloved S.H.I.E.L.D to find out who will surely be here to snatch me from my cell in due time. Do so before that happens, and we will consider this fight even," he said fluidly while looking down at her.

She stared at him angrily, yet gave him a perplexed look. _What the hell is he talking about?_ "Great. You're giving me incentives to do your dirty work for you yet again. Fine. Do I get any leads from you?"

He grinned wider and shook his head. "I will see you in six months' time. Now leave." He watched her growl and stalk towards the staircase.

"When you get out, I'm going to murder you myself," he heard her grumble before she left his line of sight.

"Should I keep you to that promise?" he taunted playfully. At this point, he was just trying to make sure she wouldn't leave here absolutely infuriated with him and his schemes. He knew she trusted him, but when it came to this, it could only be hard on her.

"Fuck you," she snapped at him, throwing the words over her shoulder as she fastened her cloak back around her neck.

"Have at it," he spoke, his smirk momentarily falling until he heard what he was aiming to get out of her. When her soft laughter met his ears, he grinned in his victory.

"You're sick," she laughed.

"Aren't we all."

She shook her head and stifled her laughter. "Six months. You owe me," she turned around and walked back over to the cell door.

"Consider it done." His smirk melted into a sincere smile for once.

She forced herself to smile back at him. "Thank you, Loki." Her voice was suddenly hoarse when she spoke.

"Only you, Orthani. Only you," he spoke as he walked away from the door.

* * *

**A/N: **Thanks for all the wonderful feedback, my loverlies! Welcome back for the repeat offenders, and to those who have just joined in recently, welcome! As promised, I'm answering reviews. The list has gotten so freaking long that I can't reply to all of them otherwise I'll end up having a review reply list longer than the chapter itself. I do apologize.

**Mrs Holmes-watson: **Thank you dear!

**Captain Cynthia: **Weeeeell, considering Odin hates her, and Sif and her warriors aren't too keen on allowing her into their love fest (and that'll be in the next chapter as well), I'd say she's gonna become really close to not being Sue-ish at all. (I hope. x.x) Plus the fact she has a slight issue with wanting to kill everyone at times.

Ah well. I did warn you she'd turn a tad Sue for a second.

**xLL-Ax: ** =D Thank you so much. X)

**The Red Dove: **Holy crap, you scared me there for a second. xD That was literally an "OH NO" moment on my part, and then I felt like an idiot. I'm glad you like it! And here you go, KEEP YOUR SANITY!

**Jayc Black: **NO THANK YOU FOR READING ;-;

**GabbyTheAngel:** Welcome aboard there! =) Thanks, I do try ^^

**Clusterlizard1: **Bahaha, I wouldn't say that. Samuel L Jackson's kinda hard to beat. xD

**The End That Wasn't: **I see what you did there. =P

You're right, she is slightly different. She has a darker side that can show up and control her at any moment, and she's got a slight bit of Loki in her. She's a bit more snippy, she's got a bit more sass and backtalk in her, but that's also because she's sick of people trying to ruin everything for her. So she's standing up and fending for that which she cares for.

Hopefully that helps shed some light on a few things. =)

**Guest: **"Absolutely fantastic! Orthani has turned into an even fiercer fighter, if that was even possible. I've been checking for an update every day since the last story and literally jumped for joy when I saw an update.

Thanks for writing so well. :)"

Thank you! So much!

**Kellemarine: **Did Odin get his ass kicked enough for you? Or am I gonna have to make something happen x)

**RaiMarshel: **You made your FRIENDS read this? O.o I'm flattered, and scared at the same time. xD Hopefully they enjoyed it.

**Mistress Serah:** She's the Goddess of Darkness, which is basically she can use any sort of dark to her aid and ability; and the Harbinger (or Bringer) of Death, which is her ability to silently go around and kill, which is also what SHIELD has taught her to be except magnified to that of a superhuman state. Basically, she's been given a dark side that controls her and will continue to control her until she gains power over it. It's rather terrifying, isn't it. X)

Shout out to all the others who have reviewed. I appreciate the time you spent to say something, and I greatly appreciate it. It helps motivate me to write, I know I've said that before. Rock on, all of you, I love you all, and don't be a stranger. Until tomorrow! Allons-y!


	4. Playing With Fire

Right as dawn approached Asgard, Orthani was up. She and Thor had a job to do whether they liked it or not.

"Go on, Thor, tell us another one of your stories!" she heard the voice of Fandral echo through the golden halls. "These tales of Midgard are always fascinating!"

_Oh great. He hasn't been pardoned for a full day and he's already parading about spouting on about the war. Thor, you never cease to disappoint me_ she thought as she rolled her eyes. She followed Thor's thunderous voice through the halls, her cloak silently billowing behind her. She reached a door to the common room where Thor was talking with Sif and her warriors three. She heard laughter roar out as Thor reenacted a scene from his adventures.

Orthani opened the door quietly and snuck in, closing it softly behind her. The room was lit up by the fire pit burning in the center, which cast everyone in an odd orange glow. She just watched as Thor wildly waved his arms about, pretending to smash things with his precious Mjolnir as he told his tale.

"…and then I slammed the hammer down on the giant beast's outer shell, bringing forth a shower of lightning upon him and brought the monster down!" Thor overemphasized his actions and words. "And this great beast, which I hath fought, crashed into a building with such force that it reduced the walls to rocks; and the green beast which fought at my side in anger that I had taken his kill suddenly _punched me through the wall that was still standing!_"

Sif and her warriors roared in laughter at the wild acting Thor was putting on for them. Orthani couldn't tell if they had stayed up all night drinking or if they had just started their celebrations early.

Since she wasn't trying to stay hidden, Thor caught sight of her standing at the door. "Ah, Orthani!" Everyone's head turned to her, all eyes studying the one who had interrupted their drinking and merrymaking. "Welcome! Come and join us in our revel; sit, drink, laugh with us!" Thor extended his hand towards a couch to his right.

"We have a job to do, Thor," she said quietly. "S.H.I.E.L.D will need us there before the week is out."

The smile faded from Thor's face ever so slightly. "Must we go now? We just returned," Thor said, tossing his half empty flagon of whatever alcoholic beverage he had into the fire pit, causing it to shatter and the fire to suddenly blaze for a few seconds.

Orthani closed her eyes and exhaled slowly. "Thor, we must. It is for Loki's own good-"

"Oh, going on about your dear Loki again, are we," Fandral scoffed as he picked up his own flagon from where it sat on the armrest of the lounge. "He is where he should be: Locked away from the rest of society. If only he was to stay there, then we wouldn't ever have another problem-"

"Watch what you say around me," she said lowly. "Especially when it comes to Loki. That will only end badly for you."

She heard him laugh as he shrugged off her words. "Leave it to good Prince Loki to bring us a stray-"

"Watch your tongue, Fandral," Thor said in a polite warning. "There is no need for such jests."

"My apologies."

"Thor, please. We must go-" Orthani tried to convince Thor to follow her.

"Give it time, Orthani," Thor interrupted her. "Traveling with the Tesseract on a regular basis could cause holes to rip through the universe. We shall wait until the week is out before returning to Midgard. Director Fury will understand, I assure you."

She remained silent, not really knowing if he was stalling or being sincere.

"The bifrost should be repaired before the year is out. Until then, using the Tesseract will only be for limited use."

_Of course. And so I shall waste time away while something else tries to take over. Alright. You win._

She growled and swirled around to open the door. She yanked it open and stormed out in annoyance.

"Such a strange woman," Sif pondered out loud as she watched the door swing close.

"She has been through a lot," Thor said quietly. "I don't think anyone truly knows what she's gone through besides Loki. Maybe the Hawk as well, but even so."

"But Thor, who in their right minds would side with Loki?" Sif replied.

"He is my brother. Watch how you speak."

"Stop being so naïve, Thor. You know this to be true," Sif raised her brow at him.

Thor looked around him at his fellow warriors. "She is good for him, regardless of what anyone else thinks. We cannot dismiss her."

The warriors looked around at each other. They wanted nothing to do with her, really. They wanted nothing that had to do with the God of Mischief whatsoever, including the stray he had managed to bring home.

Thor looked at the faces of everyone around him. They weren't objecting him, so he took it as approval. "She is a friend. Do try and treat her as such," he said as he walked towards the door and exited, heading after Orthani and closing the door behind him.

"Orthani!" he called out after her, making her halt half way down the hallway.

"What? Come to chastise me once more?" she said, not even bothering to turn around to face him.

"No," Thor said as he briskly walked over to her. "I apologize for their behavior. They aren't too keen to newcomers joining them," he explained as he approached her.

"I don't blame them. I did, after all, storm in and slaughter ten of the guards. Everyone has a right to be wary of me," she said, still not turning to face him.

"Come with me. I will take you to Sylvie, the one who taught Loki everything he knows," Thor walked past her and headed down the hall.

"Sorcery?" she asked simply as she suddenly jogged after him, having to walk quickly to keep up with his giant steps.

"Yes. Word of caution: she is worse than Loki is."

_Great. That is just what I needed._

"Learn all you can in the next few days. We will leave for Earth on the fortnight, and I do not know when we will return-"

"A fortnight? Fourteen days! Are you mad?" she exclaimed in frustration.

"Even if we left tonight, Nick Fury would not be able to reassemble the team until then, seeing as though all have scattered. It is best we stay here for now. You must learn all that you can. I'm sure it will be of use to you in the future." Thor led her through a giant doorway and into a giant, spacious library filled with rows upon rows of towering golden bookshelves sitting underneath a magnificent domed roof.

"Sylvie!" Thor called out, and his voice echoed throughout the hall. "Where is she. She is always here, normally…" he muttered as he looked around wildly for this so called 'Sylvie.' "Sylvie! I demand you answer me!" he called out again.

"Calm yourself, Thor," a voice floated from in between the rows of bookshelves surrounding the center circle they were standing in. "What is it you need? I am a very busy woman, Thor."

"I have brought to you a student. Heimdall believes she is to excel in the arts of sorcery. Will you teach her?" Thor got to the point quickly as a blond haired woman in rather skimpy Asgardian clothes approaching them with a book in her hand.

She gave a menacing chuckle. "And what makes you believe that I am to be willing to teach her, hm?" she spoke coyly.

"I have denounced your exile for you, have I not?" Thor spoke firmly. "I have allowed you back into our kingdom. You are bound by law to do as I request, are you not?"

She gave him a scowl and tossed the book she was holding on the large round reception-like desk in the center of the room. She smoothed out her green attire and brushed the blond hair out of her face. Her deep green eyes rolled in annoyance. "Must you always be so crude?"

"Sylvie."

"Thor."

She had a stare down with the God of Thunder. "Will you teach her or no?"

Sylvie looked past Thor to Orthani, who was standing there awkwardly. "You want me to teach this whelp?" she looked at Orthani apathetically.

"She has a darkness she needs to learn to control. You can teach her so," Thor grabbed Orthani by the shoulder and pushed her forward towards this strange woman.

"I'm more curious as to what happens to her if I don't," she said fluidly as her nails clicked against the wood of the front desk.

"Then do it for Loki's sake."

Sylvie's eyes perked up at the name. "Loki, you say?" she mulled over the name of her former magic protégé. Her eyes glanced over Orthani several times, studying her like she would book. "Ah, so Loki's managed to find himself a pet, has he?" she droned.

Orthani remained silent. She wasn't going to let this woman get under her skin. Not yet, anyways.

"Ah yes, she's got a strong aura about her. Just as Loki did, except this is different," she mused as she started walking around her, inspecting Orthani very closely. "While her magic might be offset to his, what makes her strong is her undeniable fury to kill. Interesting…" Her circling made Orthani nervous.

"So will you teach her?" Thor asked her again.

Sylvie continued her vulture-like circling around Orthani in silence before answering him. "Fine. I shall teach her. Not because you ask me this favor, but rather for my former student. Come; you shall be my apprentice," Sylvie grabbed Orthani's wrist and started dragging her towards the door.

_Why must these people be so touchy, _Orthani grumbled to herself as she was dragged back down the very hall she had come from. _This can only go so well._

* * *

She had one more days to suffer through; one. Then she would be able to return back to Earth to possibly help Nick and his team of Avengers solve the puzzle Loki had left for her.

She had gone through tough magic training, and Sylvie wasn't really the most patient of teachers, which only frustrated her more. Though she had discovered, with Sylvie's guidance of course, that fire was her strength; and it made sense as well. With fire, you can have light to shine through the thickest darkness imaginable. With its absence, her darkness reined. Her balance between the two was fire. She wasn't able to do much at the moment, just a few quick tricks and easy spells, including the one her darker half had used in the raid of Asgard, which was extinguishing and reigniting flames. Most of what she had been taught was fire, simply because she was able to pick it up quicker than anything else. All sorcerers had a strength such as this: they would have a stronger area of magic than others, and hers happened to be with fire and flames.

_Oh Loki will have a ball with this _was her thought when she and Sylvie had made this discovery. Not only was she able to pick up on fire magic quickest; but fire also kept her head on straight, and it was the one thing that stopped her from going absolutely crazy during her stay in Asgard. With the vicious hazing from Sif and her warriors, being secluded into almost absolute solitude away from the others by choice, it was enough to keep her walking on the thin line of sanity. Thor, however, was the one who pulled her out when he, Sif, and her warriors went out hunting or adventuring as they always would. He had fought alongside her in war and had therefore gained his respect and friendship in turn. At least he was friendly.

At this point, she had shoved her nose in the library, just searching and skimming through books to see if she could find something to give her a lead on what this entire new threat was about. Loki wouldn't help her, probably because the second he spoke he would be hunted down like an animal.

_Tesseract, Tesseract…Oh come on, they must have something…_ she thought as she flipped through another book she had pulled from the shelves.

As every other source of information, it only held what she already knew, and it was nothing that could help her. She growled and slammed the book shut. _That's it. Loki, you're getting a visit from me. _

She slipped through the hall of the library silently as she headed up to her chambers, the leather tails of the overcoat to her armor swishing ever so softly at her ankles. She reached the chambers and quickly reached for her cloak hanging over a hook on her closet door. Night had fallen a few hours ago, which would make this entire trip easier. She pulled the hood over her head and then silently walked out of her room after grabbing a candlestick sitting on her bedside table.

She noiselessly sauntered through the halls towards the passageway that led to the prison that Loki was being kept in. She was like a shadow, barely even visible had it not been for the orange flame lighting her path.

When she reached the spiral staircase leading down to the prison, she quietly shielded the flame with her hand and then blew on it gently as if she was trying to extinguish it, though it was her new little trick: instead of going out, the orange flame suddenly burned black with shades of grey. She silently slipped down the stairs, her heels not even making a sound against the stone. She paused at the bottom and peeked around the corner, checking for any guards before she bolted inside to raise the alarm.

_Two guards. Brilliant_ she thought as she ducked back behind the stone wall. She crouched down to the ground and tried to think. After she had concocted a plan, she glanced back around the wall keeping her hidden.

_Please let this work _she silently hoped as she opened her hand and sent a quick burst of fire towards the guards to catch their attention. The second she heard them scuffling towards her, she bolted back up the steps, through the door, and then jumped on the wall directly above the door on a small ledge to hide. She held onto the framework of one of the golden arches molded to the wall and blew out the candle. She held her breath as she watched the guards erupt from the door directly below her and look down the two hallways, one straight ahead and the other heading off to her right.

"You go that way, I'll go this way," one of the guards ordered, and they split to search for whatever had caused the commotion.

When they got far enough away, she jumped down and landed without making a sound and darted back down the spiral staircase, the train of her cloak twisting and contorting in the wind as if it lived and breathed on its own. She held the candle up to her lips and exhaled, and the black and grey flame suddenly sparked back to life. She again peeked around the corner before she darted inside, just to be safe. She made a beeline for Loki's cell and then crouched to her knees when she reached it.

"Loki!" she hissed quietly, which made his head snap towards her to see who had just called his name. He gave her a confused look and then rushed to the bars.

"What the hell do you think you're doing down here?" he hissed back.

"I need answers. You can't just tell me to do something without giving me somewhere to start," she whispered as he crouched down in front of her on the other side of the bars.

"Are you aware you can't actually be down here," he said back, trying to hide a faint smile that crossed his lips.

"Yeah. That's why I've distracted the guards, genius. I believe I have two minutes before they start heading back. Which means you have two minutes to talk," she said, looking over her shoulder towards the staircase.

"Are you mad, woman?" Loki gave her a shocked look.

"Just a little," she flashed him a smirk. "Now talk. Give me something to go on. Who is behind all of this?" she questioned quickly. She didn't have much time.

He grinned. "I cannot say. He will be here faster than light if I even so much as give you anything on him," Loki whispered.

Her smirk fell. "Dammit, Loki. Please? I can't do this without something to start with," she spoke in a hushed sense of alarm.

"How about the Tesseract? That seems like a damn good place to start," he snarked at her, speaking as if she was incompetent or something along those lines.

"I have. There's nothing. I'm not stupid, so don't treat me as such, you wretch," she softly snarled at the way he spoke to her.

He pressed his lips into a thin line. "Apologies-"

"Don't even bother. Just hurry up and give me something," she cut him off, trying to hurry him along.

He shrugged. "I cannot give you anything. I do not know what to say."

She growled and bolted away from the bared door.

"Don't!" Loki called her back in a whisper. "Wait, don't you leave yet," he wrapped his fingers around the bars as he watched her walk towards the spiral stair case.

"What, Loki! If I wait any longer-"

"Look to the Tesseract. She will give you answers; more than books or scrolls can ever give you!" he cut her off, knowing time was of the essence.

"That doesn't help me at all!" she hissed back, turning on heels to head back to him.

"Will you get out of here before you get caught? My father will have your head!" he hissed dangerously at her when she turned around to face him.

The clanking of the guards armor started clamoring back down the stairs and Orthani froze, as did Loki.

_For someone who is supposed to be stealthy, she's damn terrible at it_ he slapped his forehead and shook his head from side to side. _Great job, Orthani. You deserve a medal of honor for that one, dear._

When he opened his eyes and looked back, she had vanished. He looked around as subtly as he could while the two guards made it back down and headed back to their posts. Loki furrowed his brow.

"What are you looking at?" a guard spat at him as he walked by.

"Obviously not you," Loki said, looking up at the guard as if he was stupid or blatantly dumb.

The guard gruffly growled and walked past him, continuing his rounds. Loki looked towards the doorway and watched as a faded outline of a person rushed up the stairs without making a noise. A grin forced its way across his lips and he sat back in his cell. _The nerve of that woman, my god._ He shook his head in disbelief and got up, retreating back into the depths of his cell. _I have a feeling she might land herself down here on her own. Sneaky little harlot._

* * *

"Nat, Clint! Come on, all of you, I need you in here!" Nick Fury called out to the round table of his Avengers to get them into the room where Bruce and Tony had worked to pinpoint the Tesseract not but a few months ago. The room had long since been repaired from Clint's little stunt and the Hulk's rampage, thankfully. He was already standing with the Captain and Bruce, and he had just called in the rest of them.

"What's up, boss? Clint asked as he and the rest of the crew filed into the room at Fury's command.

"We've got two more of our own on their way here, but we've got to get going on this ordeal with the Tesseract once it gets back here," Nick spoke to his group while leaning over the white table with touch screen computer controls.

"Oh, so Thor's coming back?" Clint asked, folding his arms across his chest.

_Oh wait…that's right, only Tony knows she's alive, shit,_ Nick remembered. "Don't jump the gun here. Focus. We need to get started on finding out what Loki had behind him in that portal. If it's something bigger, then we're gonna be in trouble."

"Sir! We've got something up on the flight deck!" Agent Hill suddenly darted into the room. Nick let a smirk curl on his lips and he nodded, suddenly dashing out to follow Hill to the flight deck.

Clint and the Captain exchanged confused looks. The Captain darted out to follow Nick, and Clint followed in haste, bringing Natasha and Bruce to follow him. They all dashed out after him, wondering what the commotion was about. They watched as a bright blue aura swirled around in the center of the S.H.I.E.L.D symbol up on the second layer of the flight deck. The aura swirled into the form of two silhouettes and then settled, revealing Thor and a woman in Asgardian style armor and leather grasping ahold of the device the Tesseract was cradled in. As their bodies were solidified right before their eyes, Nick Fury went and greeted the two warmly.

Natasha looked as though she had seen a ghost. She quickly grabbed ahold of Clint's bicep tightly as she stared at the two with alarmed eyes. "Clint, it's her!" she gasped, tugging at his arm.

"Thor! Ghost! Good to see you guys made it out alive!" Nick said with open arms as he approached the two.

Orthani took the device from Thor's hands and unhooked the latch, opening the glass that surrounded the Cosmic Cube. She reached in and took it out with leather gloved hands. "Nice to see you too, Director," she said, haphazardly handing Thor the container and studying the cube intently as she approached Nick. "Where's Stark? Does he have the briefcase?" she asked, not removing her gaze from the glowing object.

Nick turned around to see Natasha, Clint, Captain, and Bruce all staring in confusion at the scene, but no Tony. "He's still inside then, I guess. Come on. We've got a lot of work to do here."

Nick led the two Asgardians over towards the group and ordered everyone back inside.

Natasha eyed Orthani, perplexed at what was going on. Orthani glanced up just quick enough to catch her and the rest of the confused looks, which pulled her from her thoughts. "It's a long and complicated story. I'll inform you all later," she spoke.

Clint's jaw dropped when she spoke. _She had an accent? Since when did she…what?_

* * *

**A/N: **Ok, I'm back to replying to reviews. WE'RE ALL GOOD.

**Sherlock's-Avenging-THG: **IS THIS SOON ENOUGH FOR YOU? xD I was literally going to post this and saw I had another review I didn't have before and I STOPPED TO SAY HELLO! Kinda funny how that worked out.

**Goldbee: **=D Thank you so much! x)

**Guest: **YES I AM A WHOVIAN! And proud to be one at that. =D

**Cat-Natty: **Aaaah, I know right? It's a perfect fit. x)

**Captain Cynthai: **Haha, yeah. She won't be too Sue. I'd have to kill myself. Or kill her. Again. Though that won't happen. Ever.

**Berianireth of Lorien: **-insert terrible joke about how my milkshake brings all the boys to the yard.-

**Mistress Serah: **There's no way Loki can be in a normal relationship. It's impossible, therefore it makes it an odd should go by rather quickly. Hopefully. I wouldn't put you through another 6 or 7 chapter string without any Loki/Orthani stuff going on. I don't think I can suffer through that again. x.x

**Wulfluver22: **YES! Someone likes the banter between them. x)

**Guest: **Haha, I try and update as much as possible! It's tough now, because I don't have a plot that isn't mine to follow, but that's what makes it all the more fun. x)

**The Red Dove: **Don't worry, my sanity's long gone as well. x.x


	5. She's Back, She's Dangerous

It was the millionth time she had told her story, the millionth time she had to tell everyone the horror she had become, the thousandth time someone had commented on the differences between the new her and the old her, and the billionth time someone had given her that stare that obviously questioned her sanity.

She couldn't take it. All of this poking and prodding, both physically and mentally, was all too much.

She hadn't even gotten the chance to talk to Clint and Natasha yet. Those two people were the most important, her fellow assassins, and she hadn't broken free of the chaos of the S.H.I.E.L.D workers surrounding her and Thor to speak to them, and when she had, it was only because Nick came to save the two so they could get down to business.

She was sitting in the lab with the rest of the Avengers, along with Agent Hill and Nick Fury. They were discussing something; what, she didn't know. She didn't honestly care to know. Her head was killing her, throbbing in pain from the migraine she had acquired.

She was turning. She could feel it course through her veins as her senses were heightened ever so slowly. Her heart was racing, almost like it was trying to leap out of her chest; her hands were clammy and trembling ever so slightly. Her muscles were growing twitchy and tense as the seconds slowly ticked by.

She clenched her hands into fists and shut her eyes tightly, resting her head on her forearms that were crossed on the table. Her hair splayed out on the table in a sea of black where she was, covering her face from those around her and left them oblivious to what was happening to her. There were moments of pure disarray where her mind would suddenly freak out for a split second before returning back to normal without any delay or warning. The clicking of the clock echoed through her mind loudly, only adding to her irritation. The words of whoever was talking seemed to slur in her mind, and whenever she did dare to open her eyes, it was all a bright blur mostly. She could feel her muscles seizing up in her back, neck, arms, everywhere as she tried to maintain her control. Her throat felt like someone was clutching her neck, limiting her air supply to a minimum and only making her feel even sicker than she already was. The world around her faded away into the background, and all she could focus on was what she was going through.

She inhaled an unsteady breath and clenched her fists tighter, trying to ignore the sudden tightness in her chest. Her stomach was twisting itself in knots and her skin felt like she had spiders crawling all over her body and it was both terrifying and nauseating at the same time. She moved her head so that it rested on the table instead of using her arms as a prop and ran her fingers roughly through her hair, her nails raking across her scalp. She clutched at the side of her head, trying to keep herself together. Her entire body was slowly going numb; all but her head, which was erupting into excruciating pain. She gritted her teeth together and winced, trying to fight it.

She felt something suddenly slip in her mind as her eyes rolled to the back of her head, but she quickly caught herself when she swiftly extended an arm, snapped her fingers lightly, and then slightly curled her fingers as the sudden flame that had just formed in her hand brought her back from the brink of her madness.

It was a temporary relief. It washed away everything she was feeling for a brief few seconds before she felt it slowly start to build up once again. This time, however, she was able to control herself a bit better for a handful of seconds. Then it felt like she was plunged into ice cold water as that state of illness and irritation steamed back and hit her at full force. She felt the fire she had in her hand extinguish on its own.

She pressed her skull into the table, trying to see if maybe that would help her rein herself back in. The fingernails on her extended hand tried to bite into the table at arm's length as her body felt like it was on fire yet frozen in a block of ice at the same time. She convulsed as she held back a dry heave from her stomach, and her outstretched hand clenched into a ball once again.

She felt someone tapping on her clenched hand and she heard Clint's voice break through her spell. "Hey Mynxie, you alrigh-"

That was it. Those three taps on the back of her hand did it. She snapped instantly.

In a flash she had violently stood up from her seat, sent it ricocheting into the wall behind her, and had a dagger to Clint's throat in under a second. She held him by the back of his head and had the blade pressed up against the side of his neck where the vein was flowing right beneath the skin. Her lips formed an angry snarl, her nose curled up in hate and her eyes were glowing green, yet had not quite reached the brilliant emerald color just yet.

Everyone in the room jumped into action, but Thor and Nick jumped in front, just getting everyone to back up. Her breathing was heavy and sporadic, something that told Thor and Nick that she was still trying to fight back.

"Nick, lock me up," she forced herself to growl through gritted teeth.

"What the hell are you-"

"Nick, lock me up! I can't control her!" her voice raised a few octaves as she struggled to try and regain her mind back. She felt a foot being yanked out from underneath her, courtesy of Clint, and she found herself on her knees clutching her head once more. She her groan turned into a roar of anger as she sunk her blade through the floor with one powerful stab. She could feel the blood coursing through her veins, some of them constricting and cutting off blood flow, she was sure of it. She felt her control being pried from her as she felt someone snatch her from the ground and pin her arms behind her back. She snapped her eyes shut as this person dragged her through the hall of the S.H.I.E.L.D airbase, knowing the second she opened them, she'd be a monster with no mercy whatsoever. She felt herself being thrown into something, and she hit the ground and rolled. She curled herself into the fetal position as she felt numbness radiate from her spine outwards over her entire body and then suddenly everything that had shaken her ceased.

An airlock door sealed itself shut as she hoisted her torso up off the ground. She put a knee down on the ground and she wondered if she had managed to beat it. She slowly started to open her eyes.

Fatal mistake.

* * *

Nick watched as her eyes flew open, glowing that bright emerald green that had scared him countless times before. A smirk curled over her lips as she looked up at him and the Avengers.

"Back up. All of you, get back," Nick muttered as he took a few steps back towards the door.

"What the hell happened to her?" Natasha asked, not taking her eyes off the woman now giving them all a devilish grin.

"I don't know, Tasha; you're the one who put the gun to her head," Nick gave Natasha an apathetic look before snapping back to Orthani.

"We meet again, Nicolas Fury," her voice hummed in a low, menacing growl as she stood up straight and flicked her tongue over her bottom lip.

"Oh my god…" Bruce said out loud as he watched what was happening. She had just switched, almost like he would with the Hulk, right before everyone's eyes.

There was only one thing running through everyone's heads: What the hell happened to her, and why was she suddenly considered to be so dangerous that Fury had to lock her in a cage?

"I always hated this part, but fortunately this time, she's behind 2 inch thick bulletproof glass," Nick muttered to his group, who had all readied themselves should something happen. "Put your stuff away, geez. She isn't going anywhere."

"Oh no," her grin widened, her teeth sparkling as her lips parted in a demonic grin. "Have you not yet been told? I'm stronger now."

Nick's brow furrowed, but before he could say anything, she spun on the balls of her feet and the entire glass cage was filled with a black flame. Not orange. Not red. Not yellow. Black.

"Get out! Go!" Nick jumped into action, turning around and shoving the Avengers back out of the room in haste. After a few seconds hesitation, the group listened. This was no longer little miss Ghost, running around with her little daggers: that persona was a cute little 4 year old compared to this. This was the real deal. She really had been turned into a superhuman.

"I will deal with her!" Thor pushed past Fury. "Get everyone else out of this wing and lock it down."

"Do you have a death wish, Thor?" Nick exclaimed as he had the Avengers out the door before he was able to blink.

"I can handle her. You forget; I am the God of Thunder," he smiled and turned to the glass cage, now having a swirling black flame blocking out any sight of Orthani standing in the center. Nick watched for a moment and only bolted to follow Thor's orders when an explosion at the door of the cage rocked the room. The glass had melted, and through the black flames stepped Orthani, who exited the cage as if it was nothing to her.

Nick sprinted down the hall and he pressed a red button that sounded alarms throughout the ship. The last time she had been loose, she had killed almost two hundred of his men with only two daggers. He wasn't about to lose that many people again.

* * *

The metal door to the room clamped itself closed directly behind Thor as the alarms started wailing throughout the airbase. Thor tossed Mjolnir to his other hand as the villainous monster that had gained control over his brother's lover slowly sauntered out of her confines, a manic smirk plastered on her face.

"Thor," she spat as she thrust her chin upwards as a challenge.

"Orthani," he said back, simply staring her down.

Her lips twitched slightly as she cocked her head to the right. "Come for a little fun, have we," she growled as her smirk fell and she barred her teeth. She withdrew her silver daggers and crouched towards the ground, her arms out with her daggers grasped in hand as if they were just an extension of her arm.

"Don't I always?" he taunted, which led to her lunge towards him, daggers pointed directly to his throat.

He swung his hammer at her before she was able to do any damage to him and sent her flying backwards and into the opposite wall across the room. The metal caved under the impact and she fell to the floor, landing hard on her stomach. She let out a grunt as she quickly got up to her feet, not even a scratch on her face.

"Ooooo, big man fighting a small woman. At least you're going easy on me," she taunted as she stepped towards him menacingly, her jaw hanging open as she licked her bottom lip. Her hair was already slightly disheveled and hanging from the band that held half of it up and out of her face. She held her daggers down by her sides.

"Because I know you don't know what you are doing," Thor nodded, stepping towards her.

She chuckled and shrugged off her shoulders. "Go on. Come at me," she put out her arms and a line of the same black flames erupted at her feet and blazed at least a few feet off the ground, running from one end of the room to the other. "Give me all you've got!" she shouted at him. "You know I am relentless. Do your worst," she challenged, still holding her arms out like a crucifix.

Thor roared and jumped towards her with Mjolnir out in front of him, making him fly towards her and crash into her, sending her through the back wall this time and into the next room. She landed hard on her back as he landed on both of his feet on the ground. He reeled Mjolnir back, ready to strike should he have to.

She groaned and then laughed at his attempt, only to close her eyes and then vanish in the darkness that surrounded her. Thor slammed his hammer down where her body once lay when he realized she had disappeared in hopes that maybe she was still there, but the hammer only met with the metal of the ship. He felt something wrap around his throat tightly, cutting off his airways.

He wildly swung his hammer around, trying to shake her from his back but it was of no use. He dropped his beloved Mjolnir to the ground and he bucked and slammed his back against the wall, still trying to shake her, but she still clung onto him with a death grip.

"Any last words, Thor?" she spat in his ear as he bent over, trying to get any air into his lungs that he could manage.

"Hold on," he choked out, holding out a hand as Mjolnir flew back to his hand. He swung it before pointing it up to the sky and his feet rocketed off the ground. He went through multiple floors, busting through the floor on every single one he went through. He burst through the flight deck and into the bright sunlight of day. The arm that was wrapped around his throat was suddenly visible again, and he did a roll in midair so that his back was parallel with the ground. He pointed Mjolnir up at the sky, and then he was suddenly rocketed back down to the flight deck with spectacular force.

Those who had gathered on the deck from the alarms, including the Avengers, suddenly scattered when they saw Thor and Orthani heading towards them like an asteroid. They crashed to the ground and the concrete exploded on impact as the two broke apart and rolled to a stop on their own. Thor was the first to get up since Orthani had taken most of the hit since she had been underneath him when they hit.

She coughed as she hoisted herself off the ground gingerly. Her lip was busted, she had a cut on her forehead that was now bleeding, but her eyes were still glowing that unmistakable emerald green.

"I do not want to fight you, Orthani!" Thor yelled at her, rubbing his mouth with the back of his hand.

"Nor do I, but it's just too much fun to resist," she smirked and then lunged at him. This time when he swung his hammer, she was able to duck the blow, hook her legs around Thor's neck, and then use the momentum to flip him to the ground. She stood in the middle of his back and was about to plunge a dagger through his spine when she was tackled by someone, and she was thrown off. She was pinned to the ground as someone fought against her, preventing her from getting up. Orthani stopped her struggling even though she knew she could easily overpower the meek Midgardian.

"Ghost, it's me! It's Clint! You've gotta listen to me!" Hawkeye was pinning her to the ground, practically sitting on her stomach and holding her arms above her head. "Orthani, come on, you can fight this!" Barton yelled at her.

"Are you supposed to mean something to me?" she chuckled darkly.

_Oh shit, what have I just done,_ Clint thought to himself as he studied her face. "Orthani, fight it! I know you're in there!"

"Foolish mortal. You are playing with forces far beyond your control," she glared at him, still not struggling against him.

_Is this what she saw in me when Loki had me under his control, _he thought to himself just before she suddenly had him pinned to the ground with a dagger to his throat. Before she had a chance to slice open the vein in his neck, Natasha had jumped onto her back and put a cloth over her nose and mouth while keeping her in a headlock. Within a few seconds of struggling, she suddenly went limp and collapsed to the ground.

Clint looked up at Natasha with a confused look.

"Chloroform," she said as she held up the cloth. "Even gods can't resist the effects of i-"

Her legs were swept out from under her as Orthani suddenly kicked herself into gear and swung her legs to bring Natasha down as well. Orthani was able to jump up and evade their reach, and then encircled herself in a rim of black fire to prevent anyone from trying to get to her from behind her this time.

"Everyone get back!" Thor yelled as he started spinning Mjolnir in his hand again, staring straight into the eyes of his enemy.

No one questioned him. They ran as far as they could get before he pointed his hammer towards the sky and then brought it down to the ground in a rain of lightning, shattering the concrete as if it was glass around him. The shockwave made Orthani crash into one of the aircrafts sitting on the deck to Thor's right. Clint and Natasha had to roll to the ground to keep out of the line of fire, and all those who were watching had to shield themselves from the shrapnel that went flying from the thunderous rapture. When the dust cleared, he smiled when he saw he actually had managed to knock her out. She had caused a dent in the shape of her body in the side of the aircraft and then crumpled to the ground unconscious.

Everyone on the deck looked around silently, wondering what had just happened before their very eyes. They exchanged glances and then watched at Thor went over to her body and hoisted her off the ground and threw her over his shoulder.

"She will be fine," he said as he went over to Nick and the Avengers, who were staring at him with wide eyes. "Put her in restraints until she wakes. She will be extremely irritable, but she will be fine," he said, dumping Orthani at Nick Fury's feet and then going to wipe the blood that had started trickling down his forehead. "I apologize for the mess," he said as he brushed past everyone to head back inside.

_Every time this woman turns, she causes so much damage it is close to unbelievable. This cannot keep happening again and again. _

He made a beeline for the lab they were once in where he knew the Tesseract was still sitting, left unattended due to Fury's evacuation of the building. He walked in, grabbed the cube and the device as well and then headed back out to the flight deck.

"Woah, what the fuck do you think you're doing?" Nick exclaimed as Thor passed him in the hall and he immediately followed him back up to the flight deck. He had the Tesseract, the one thing he needed to solve this puzzle was about to walk right back out of the door. He had to fight through the sea of people trying to work their way back inside.

"I believe we'll need someone here the next time she turns like this. That someone who, as of right now, is being kept in the prisons of Asgard," Thor said as he popped open the device and placed it inside before snapping it closed once again.

"Oh hell no, you can't bring Loki back here. Have you lost your mind?" Nick exclaimed once more, still stalking Thor as he got back on the now destroyed flight deck. He stepped over Orthani's unconscious body.

"I'm sorry, Director Fury, but this could possibly be the only way we can keep her from destroying this ship for the third time. I cannot have that," Thor said as he held the device by his side. "Get her in restraints. Keep her out here until I return. Do not let her get into the shadows or she will awaken in her monstrous state. Am I clear?" Thor instructed.

"Why the hell should I take orders from you?" Nick raised his brow.

"Because the only person who can actually contain her wrath is about to go back to Asgard. If you do not obey my orders and she does regain consciousness in such a destructive state, I can only imagine how many lives she'll kill before she can control herself again. Understood?"

Nick studied his face a moment before nodding. "Hurry on back then. I'll get a cell to hold Loki in when you get here," he told Thor as he walked to the center of the destruction. Fury pulled a pair of cuffs that were holstered at the back of his belt and went to snap them on Orthani's wrists. He quickly put her hands behind her back and then drug her into the sunlight as Thor was sucked back to Asgard by the Tesseract. He stood over her and waited, just looking over the destruction around him.

_We're going to need another ship…_ he thought, looking around him at the destruction that just happened a few minutes previous. The upper flight deck had been reduced to rubble and dust while the lower deck had a giant hole and a divot in it. _Good lord, these gods just destroy everything they touch. _

He heard a groan escape Orthani's lips as Clint jumped back on the flight deck from the under the belly of the ship. Fury took two steps back, not knowing if that was just a residual noise or if she was actually awake again.

"Agent Barton!" Fury called Barton over to him. "Get an arrow aimed at her head will you?" he ordered, not taking his eyes off the destructive woman lying at his feet. Clint furrowed his brow in confusion. "Please? She's Asgardian; it's not like it's actually going to get through the first layer of her skin, but just do it for my comfort," he said, watching as the cuts on her face slowly seeped blood over her skin.

Barton complied, even though he couldn't get past the fact he was once again pointing an arrow to the temple of his 'little sister.' She was far more dangerous than he ever expected. He was glad she was alive when he first saw her, but then she suddenly snapped, and that made him realize this was far beyond his comprehension, and nor did he really even want to understand what was going on.

He crouched down at the ground and kept the tip of the arrowhead pointed at her head. "So will you tell me why the hell you kept this a secret from the rest of us?" he asked Fury, taking his eyes off the battle-worn woman in front of him.

Nick exhaled and clasped his hands behind his back. "We didn't know if this would work or not. Even now, it still isn't working. That's why we kept her away from you guys," he said, staring down at the ground. "She's actually dangerous this time around, and she isn't even trying to be," he shook his head.

Barton nodded after hearing his explanation.

_Good god, what the fuck is going on._

* * *

**A/N:**

**The Red Dove: **If you thought that was epic, then this must be mind blowing. x.x

**Captain Cynthia: **It's such a Loki thing to say. x) And ...cheese pie?

**Guest: **Hey there Jess!Yeah, you just sent me that message on Tumblr. Let me get to that like riiiiiiight now

**LiteralIrony: **I'm right next to you xD Dork.

**Goldbee: **Thank you kindly. =)

**S1SKA: **Aw, thank you so much! -hearts-

**Guest: **I doubt he'd do it in any other way, really. xD Maybe if he wasn't behind bars, but that sorta isn't the case as of right now. x)


	6. Loki's Return

Loki heard a thunderous hoard of footsteps bounding down the stairs to the prison, which in turn snapped him from his thoughts oh so rudely. He opened his eyes and turned to face the gated door to his cell, wondering who could possibly make that much noise in a sarcastic manner.

"Loki!" Thor's voice echoed throughout the hall.

He smiled and hummed a laugh in his throat. "Sorry, I believe father told you I was to remain in absolute solitude, as I recall," he snapped his eyes shut once more and rolled his head to the side, his back resting against the wall.

"I need you to come back to Earth-"

"I refuse to meet your Jane, dear brother," Loki rolled his eyes. Why else would he have gone to Earth?

"It isn't Jane, Loki. It's Orthani."

Loki's eyes snapped open and his smirk fell. "What."

"She turned again. She's gone mad, Loki. I don't know if I can stop her if I return to find she's still…" he breathed deeply and swallowed hard.

"What did you do to her?" Loki asked quietly, glaring at Thor with cold, dead eyes.

"I have convinced Father to let you come with me-"

"What are you playing at?" Loki snarled. "Is this your brilliant plan? To play games with those around you? Why is she back on Earth in the first place when she's barely had any magic training to begin with?" Loki stood up suddenly. "Are you trying to destroy her?"

"We need her!" Thor roared back at his brother.

"I need her more than you!" Loki bellowed back twice as loud. "Her mind is a delicate thing to play with so early in her new life: How dim are you to not see that taking her back to such high stress environments would cause this?"

"She told me she could handle it!" Thor growled.

"The first rule you must understand with Orthani: She. Always. Lies. Especially when it comes to her job, you dimwit," Loki snarled and spun away from the gate of the cell door. "It might not seem like she is lying, for she honestly believes it herself. She overestimates herself, for she has never dealt with such power before. How about you pass this idea of yours by me before you bring something so dangerous into your schemes!" He walked away from Thor without another word.

"Sylvie said she would be able to handle herself!" Thor roared.

"Sylvie is more devious than I! You should have come to me first!"

"You know nothing about what she can do now, Loki!"

Loki snapped his jaw shut. He knew Thor was right, but at least he would have been able to stop this from happening.

"Will you come with me or not?" Thor demanded of him.

Loki scoffed. "Why should I?"

"Because she is yours! What other reason do you need?"

Loki hissed through his teeth before turning back to face him. "I should say no to you. I should refuse. You brought this upon yourself and you should have to pay for your actions, but yet again, here I stand running to your rescue. And they consider me the villain?" he scoffed. "If this had nothing to do with her, I wouldn't agree to this. This is not for your sake, not this time."

Thor growled. He turned to a guard and demanded for Loki's release. The moment the gate swung open, Thor rushed in and snatched Loki's arm and began dragging him towards the surface floor. He held the device for the Tesseract in his left hand while dragging Loki along behind him. They reached an open area where the sky was visible and Thor held out the device holding the Tesseract to Loki, who took it instantly. Thor twisted it, and they were sucked into space.

* * *

"Fight it, Orthani, fight it!" Clint yelled as Orthani writhed on the ground at Fury's feet. He had tossed his bow aside when she had awoken with only a dim glow to her eyes. She was trying to suppress it but it was putting up a hell of a struggle.

She strained her neck to the side, revealing the vein bulging on the side of her throat. She was struggling, tossing and turning in the debris around her. The handcuffs that were hooked behind her back made it difficult for her to move.

She managed to roll herself to her knees and pick herself off the ground, remaining knelt down on both knees. Her groan turned into an outcry as she pressed her forehead into the ground, shutting her eyes tightly and gritting her teeth.

"Fight this, Ghost!" Clint grabbed ahold of her shoulders, trying to gently shake it out of her. "Fight it! Don't let this thing win!" He was knocked off balance when she violently rose to her feet and stumbled away. She stopped about half way down the already destroyed flight deck before stopping, her body twitching uncontrollably. The cuffs that held her hands behind her back strained as she fought against them, and the chain links that connected the cuffs suddenly snapped under the pressure as she let out another yell. She threw her arms up to her head and another ring of blackened flames erupted around her as she again collapsed to her knees in agony. She kept a hand on the ground to keep herself steady as her fingers raked through her hair, trying to regain control of her mind. She inhaled sharply through her gritted teeth as she felt a sharp pain radiate from her spine.

"Orthani!" Clint called her again, only to see her suddenly snap her head to the side and glare at him like some sort of animal hunting its prey. Her eyes were steadily regaining that bright emerald glow. He froze when he saw a devilish grin curl on her lips, but then suddenly disappeared when her head twitched to the side like someone was yanking back at the reins. She was struggling, fighting against this. "Orthani, you must fight this!" Clint called out as she writhed around on the ground. It was a scary sight, for he knew she could just give up and this torment would stop when this thing took control from her but instead, she fought and suffered as two beings wrestled over one space in her mind.

"Orthani!"

Suddenly, she went from being sprawled out on her back to on her feet, crouched down and ready to pounce. The rest of her hair fell from her hair band and cascaded down in her face. She gave a smirk and the ring of black exploded, blazing higher than it had before, but then suddenly receded as her inner turmoil reigned over her once more.

Clint heard a whooshing sound from behind him, and he didn't need to turn around to know that Thor had returned. He didn't care; he was too enthralled with watching this fight between Orthani and her inner demons. Since when did she become this strong?

As Loki and Thor materialized on the deck a ways behind Clint, Thor realized his hunches were right. She hadn't yet beaten this yet, and there she was, on the verge of wreaking havoc once again.

"I thought I told you to restrain her and keep her out of the shadows!" Thor roared, turning around to face Nick Fury as Loki's attention locked onto what was happening.

"I did! She broke the cuffs!" Nick exclaimed, defending himself.

This is what he had created. This is what she had become because of him. Loki looked around at the destruction that had already been caused because of her and then returned his gaze to her. She was crying out in pain and convulsing, twitching every time she would feel something run through her veins. He watched her switch, regain an ounce of control, and then switch again.

This was more horrifying to him than the time she had massacred an entire squadron of Asgardian guards in the blackest of night. This was like watching someone squirming as they were tortured until they reached the brink of death and then were brought back so they could start the process all over again.

His hand quickly pickpocketed the keys to his shackles from Thor and he swiftly freed himself, tossing the restraints to the ground. As soon as they clattered to the ground, there was a blast of fire that radiated outward towards them almost like the Tesseract had when Loki first walked through the portal such a long time ago. He put up an arm to shield his eyes as his fingers twitched at his side and his scepter materialized in his hand. He watched as this woman walked from her blaze, still sporadically twitching every so often.

Loki heard the familiar sound of Thor spinning Mjolnir at his side and he spun around. "Do not!" he snarled, pointing his scepter at Thor warningly. He glared at Thor until he stopped spinning his hammer around. Once his brother had stood down, he turned back to face Orthani and studied every small movement she made and charged the scepter at his side.

He wouldn't dare make the first move. He watched her twitch and then made a swift movement that sent a ball of fire towards him and Barton. Almost just as swiftly, he brought his arms up and crossed them in front of his chest, and a force field of energy blockaded the entire deck from a few feet in front of Barton back, and her fireball she had sent exploded and backfired the moment it touched the gigantic wall of bright blue energy.

Fury, Barton, and Thor jumped back in shock, all of them realizing Loki really was a lot stronger than he had made himself out to be during the war.

She was rocketed back, the blast being forced back in her direction. She flew back onto the lower flight deck and collided into the concrete, rolling a few feet before being brought to a stop. Before she was even given the chance to recover, Loki had jumped down and put the scepter to her heart.

"You can't take over her mind!" Thor's bellow reached his ears, snapping his attention.

He twisted his neck to face Thor, who had landed not but a few feet away from him. "Who said I was doing that?" he said smoothly before placing a foot gently on her temple before he charged his scepter. Thor watched as the energy reversed its flow from the scepter, and instead of ripping something out and replacing it as Loki once did with Barton; he was instead slowly and gently coaxing something out of her. They all watched as the bright glow was slowly extinguished from her eyes and she stopped struggling, going unconscious from the long struggle she had just encountered.

Loki took the scepter away from her heart, studying her face for any sign of deception. When his hand grew hot, he eyed his scepter warily and then sent all that excess energy he had drawn from her into an aircraft, exploding it on impact.

The deck suddenly grew silent, the only noise being the crackling of fire from the now burning aircraft carrier.

"Do you honestly believe she belongs here at the moment?" he snapped quietly at Thor as he glared over him at his shoulder. "I could have let her destroy you all. I should have!" Loki snapped, tossing his scepter away only to have it vanish before it hit the ground. "However, I seem to care too much of the status of her life to allow her to destroy you all," he grumbled before crouching down on the ground at Orthani's side.

Her eyes flew open when he put the back of his hand to her cheek to wipe the blood from her skin and he mentally sighed in relief when he saw she no longer had the bright green glow in her eyes. She suddenly sat up and looked around wildly, her jaw hung slightly open.

"Please tell me I haven't killed anyone," she said desperately as she looked up at Nick, who was gazing down at her from the higher deck.

"Thankfully, this time you haven't," Nick shook his head lightly. "You and Thor did just cause close to a million dollars in damage, though," he said, raising his brows as if he was impressed.

She groaned and rested back on the ground. "What a wonderful way to be welcomed back," she said as she closed her eyes and exhaled. "However, now that I've managed to get everyone off track, will you please let me speak to Clint and Natasha before I go on another rampage?"

Nick chuckled. "I'll get you a jet to lower Manhattan. I'm sure actually being on land would ease your mind a bit, huh?"

She laughed. "That might not be such a bad idea, sir."

Nick nodded and then turned to Clint. It was like they had a silent conversation, and within seconds, both Clint and Fury were walking down below deck.

"Are you blatantly ignoring me, or do you honestly not see that I am here," Loki spoke lowly as Orthani rested on the ground in front of him.

"I see you. I know you're here."

"So you are blatantly ignoring me…"

She uncovered her eyes to look up at him. "You did just completely own me. Forgive me if I feel like I can't breathe from having the wind knocked out of me."

He remained silent for a moment before speaking up. "Do you realize just how utterly terrifying that was?"

"You should see what I'm feeling when I go through that," she scoffed, sitting back up to come face to face with Loki. "So why are you here?"

"To stop you."

"And Thor couldn't stop me on his own why? He's perfectly capable of doing so on his own," she furrowed her brow.

"He has not said. Though I do believe it has something to do with the fact that he leaves destruction in his wake with that hammer of his. In dealing with someone like you, that only amplifies whatever he does," he shot Thor a glance out of the corner of his eye. "Sylvie's manipulated you. Tell me."

Orthani furrowed her brow. "I have no idea what you are talking about…"

"Yes, and I just witnessed you and your inner power fighting amongst yourself for control. It has gotten to the point that whatever you have learned becomes amplified in that state of mind when it concerns sorcery. I am not ignorant, Orthani. She's using you," he forced her to look at him by holding her chin towards him with his fingers.

She batted Loki's arm away. "I am fine-"

"You are not."

"Keep at it and I'll switch again!" she yelled at him, which made him go silent when she snapped. He looked down at the ground before suddenly standing up and walking past her, heading for the doors that led below decks. He got a good distance away from her before he felt a hand grab his arm. "Thank you," he heard her softly say.

"For what," he snarled over his shoulder softly as he stopped walking.

"Coming here to stop me," she said, stepping in front of him. "You snapped me out of it almost instantly before I actually killed someone this time. So thank you."

He didn't look at her, but he nodded to let her know he had heard her.

"You didn't have to come here-"

"Of course I did. I created what you are now," he softly interrupted her. "I cannot just stand by and watch you tear yourself apart while destroying everything you touch." He still couldn't bring himself to look her in the eyes. He felt the palm of her hand brush his cheek.

"Behave, will you?" She eyed him carefully as Clint and Natasha appeared from below deck just a few feet behind them.

His eyes snapped to her before he let out a chuckle, a wide grin spreading across his face. "Never." He pulled her to him by the nape of her neck and kissed her forehead gently before walking back over to Thor.

"Do it and I'll repay you!" she called out after him.

He stopped walking and turned around, looking at her through narrowed eyes. "Unless you clarify what you mean by that, then what you say is up for my interpretation," he gave her a once over.

She chuckled. "You'll see. I promise," she said, following Clint and Natasha to the only remaining aircraft that hadn't been damaged in the fight between her and Thor. She flashed him a dazzling smile before turning around and jumping into the aircraft.

"I hope you know what you are doing," Loki said to the person who had approached his left just out of his peripheral vision.

"She's always fine when she's out of our hands, oddly enough," Nick Fury spoke to him as Thor came up from Loki's right and quickly snapped the shackles back on his wrists. "It's only the times when she feels trapped and caged like an animal does she do that. The flame is a new one, though," Nick nodded in approval.

"What is it that you want from me," Loki snarled, turning swiftly to face the Director.

"You know about the Tesseract, don't you? You know more than we do," Nick spoke, not even being phased by Loki's intimidation.

"And what, you wish to have me tell you everything I know?" Loki let out a scoff. "Your uncultured mind couldn't dare fathom the knowledge it can give you. Why should I reveal such extraordinary knowledge to the likes of you?"

Nick smirked. "You help us out, we help you out. That's how it works here at S.H.I.E.L.D," he said as he clasped his hands behind his back.

"Does it look like I need help from such a pathetic excuse of a protection agency as you?" Loki snarked with a sneer on his face.

"You're the one being hunted, am I right?" Nick said smartly, trying to hide the smug look of victory off his face.

_I am going to hunt your men down one by one and destroy them all, you pathetic cow,_ Loki thought with a mean snarl crossing his lips.

"We don't want you anymore, Loki. We want the person in charge of this master plan, and as much as I know you would love to claim you were the one who came up with all this, we all know that's a lie." Nick started pacing in a circle around him very slowly. "So letting slip a little bit of helpful information would be in your favor."

Loki's lip twitched. Nick Fury must have been waiting for this since they realized this war wasn't over, how clever. He was a man who knew his way with words, he had to admit.

"I do not wish to make such a foolish alliance with your kind," Loki spat in smite.

"This isn't an alliance. This is a bargain to free you," Nick gave a half shrug.

_Petty Americans and their tendencies to bargain to get what they want by manipulating their enemies. How dim can you get?_

"Yes, you speak as if your jurisdiction lies beyond that of your realm. I doubt when you say 'free' you mean complete freedom," Loki jabbed back.

Nick shrugged once more. "I have my ways, Loki." He gave the demigod a forced smile. "So what do you say? Let's get those shackles off, we'll have you join us down in the lab and you can tell us what you know."

"You may do what you wish, _Director_," Loki spat his title. "I refuse to cooperate with your people."

Nick gave him a smile, one that was friendly for once. "Thor, get him out of those things and bring him to the lab, will you? We've got work to do."

Loki rolled his eyes in disgust. He already knew what Nick was playing at and he wasn't going to fall for it.

_Never mind behaving. I shall do what I so please, a woman be damned. She spoke that with empty words, who am I to listen to them?_

* * *

The aircraft hovered over Stark Tower as Natasha, Clint, and Orthani jumped down from a little over 10 feet to the roof. It was the only place they could land without drawing attention to themselves.

Natasha watched nervously as Orthani landed just feet away from where she had once been killed by her. Hell, the very bullet that had gone through her head was still lodged in the cement behind her.

"Should we be honored, being hand-picked to talk to you while everyone else rushes to try and save the world?" Clint said, breaking the silence between the triad.

Orthani smirked lightly. "You're my fellow assassins. It's only right I speak to you two before anyone else," she said, smiling as she walked past Natasha and headed towards the stairs. "Come on. To Downtown Manhattan, let's go," she announced as Clint followed her. They stopped when they realized Natasha wasn't following.

"Tasha?" Clint called after her, and she swiftly followed them. She approached Orthani with a clenched hand.

"Here," she said, holding out her hand and uncurling her fingers to reveal the bullet, still surprisingly pristine and without many malformations. "I'm surprised Stark hasn't found it by now and put it in a glass case," she said sarcastically.

Orthani held out her hand and Natasha tipped the bullet into her palm. Orthani picked it up with her other hand and held it out in the already setting sunlight, holding it between her thumb and forefinger. "Giving me a peace offering, are you?" she said lightly, eyeing the bullet carefully.

"If you see it that way," she shrugged, folding her arms across her chest.

Orthani smiled. "Well in that case, thank you. I'll have Nick drill a hole through the base and make it into a necklace," she joked, tucking the bullet into her corseted armor. "Come on. Before it gets dark, shall we?"

* * *

**A/N: **It's slightly shorter today than before, sorry. I had a massive migraine and could hardly write today, and by the time it went away, I got distracted by Henry V and Tom Hiddleston, and THEN my brother just came up asking if I wanted to go and see the Avengers being in love with Loki, I couldn't resist. x.x Much apologies.

**J: **Woo!

I went and followed you on Tumblr, btw. x)

**Guest:** -hearts- THANK YOU!

**The End That Wasn't: **You're fine. =) And yep. There's always a way to stop her. x) Even if it is unorthodox. c

**Lime Toaster Cat: **Anti-Ghost. I like that xD

**Cat-Natty: **Holy CRAP you're up late

**TheMagentaColor: **o.o Don't die from her wrath, that would be a terrible death xD

**Guest: **Sorreh x) Here you go, kind guest person.

**Guest:** IN A CUPBOARD UNDER SOME STAIRS! (I pray to god you got that reference) Come on by and follow me on Tumblr, and if you already are, then MESSAGE ME AND LET ME KNOW.

**Guest: **I have no idea. Until I finish it really. xD Even after that, I might do a series of one shots should they ever come to mind or something that'll sorta keep the characters alive and such.

**Guest:** Thank you so much. ;-; That means a lot, really.

**doctor-takemewithyou: **Yeeeah, I figured I had kept them separated for long enough in the prequel. Doing it again is just cruel. xP

**xLL-Ax:** Ok, soooo she won't be too overpowered. x) I can promise you that, she's just sorta...rogue as of right now. When she gets her ish together, she'll be just as powerful as Loki is with training.

**RaiMarshel:** Aw, thank you so much!

**WulfLuvr22: **THAT IT IS! I miss him already

**Goldbee: **It's about time I drug him out of that cell, eh? x.x

**The Red Dove: **Bwahahaha, will do!


	7. Time Will Tell

"Now what?" Clint said as the three stood atop an old, rundown apartment complex in the lower part of Manhattan. The sun had long since set and the city had come to life.

"I don't know. We're at a dead end," Orthani exhaled quickly and ran her fingers through her still disheveled hair. "Loki refuses to talk to me about the situation. He fears his life hangs in the balance and the only way to protect himself is if he never speaks about it ever again. The Tesseract is a dead end as well. We cannot do anything to it without broadcasting to the universe we are ready for a higher form of war. We have nothing."

Natasha folded her arms across her chest, trying to rack her brain for something…anything.

"When Loki returns to Asgard, he will be locked up once more. That we cannot escape. However, he is the one with all the answers. He knows everything. I guarantee you he's more than likely planning out what his next move is, but unfortunately for us, he recognizes the value of information and what it would do to him if he ever spoke this to another person." Orthani shrugged off her leather overcoated armor and hung it over the ledge of the building. She extended her arm and started to unhook the silver arm guards from her forearms as well, leaving only her leather corset with the silver strips of metal plated around her ribs for protection. Her arms and shoulders were now bare and had hints of bruises from her fight with Thor. The cuts on her face had already started healing at a fast rate.

"So something needs to change here," Clint said, bringing his hand to his lips in contemplation. "We've stalled the entire operation because no one wants to give. So what do we do?" He looked around at the two women surrounding him.

No one spoke. Not until Natasha came up with an idea. "We convince Thor to free Loki. Completely dismiss his crimes, and let him walk-"

"That's a dangerous play, Natasha," Orthani interrupted her, shaking her head in disagreement. "This isn't just a one time deal; he's known for fiddling with things that shouldn't be messed with on multiple occasions. Even if he is the one we need to get talking, freeing him won't help us. It might actually hurt us."

"What else can we do? Everyone else is at a checkmate here; we can't do anything else." Natasha unfolded her arms. "There's been no other sign that there is actually something else out there that could be threatening us. Maybe that's our key: we act as if there isn't. Sure, we can silently prepare ourselves should something break loose, but until then, we can't do anything."

Orthani nodded. She knew Natasha was at least partially right. They had nothing to go on; they were chasing dust in the wind at the moment.

"So what, our play is to let him do what he wants?" Clint furrowed his brow.

"I'll keep an eye on him in Asgard," Orthani quickly replied. "I won't let him get too out of hand, and in turn, he will keep me in check as well."

"Something tells me Fury won't really like this plan," he said as he bit the side of his thumb lightly.

"Well we can't force information out of someone when they believe their life will be put in immediate danger should they mutter a single word. If we can't let him talk, we might as well let him start fending for himself. You have to remember: this is Loki. He might seem a little crazy, but he knows exactly what he is doing." Orthani shifted her weight over to one leg and held her arms behind her back.

Silence fell over the group for a moment before Clint spoke up again. "Can we trust him, is my question," he exhaled, running a hand through his hair.

Orthani nodded. "Maybe not entirely, but I know him well enough that he would rather the universe still live on. He isn't quite ready to give up entirely on his mischief making. If someone's stomping on his plans, he wouldn't tolerate it. Just trust him only as far as you can throw him."

Clint shook his head lightly. "I don't know about this, you two. Something just doesn't seem right."

"The last time I listened to Director Fury, I ended up killing a fellow agent, "Natasha snapped quietly. "Somehow, she's managed to still be able to stand with us, and she's telling us this war isn't over. Maybe this time we should actually listen to her."

Both Clint and Natasha looked over to Orthani, who gave them a small nod and closed her eyes briefly.

_This is going to be a very long and tedious battle, I can already tell._

* * *

"Who is this foolish child who dares approach me without permission?" a low, throaty growl emitted from the throat of the Other as he eyed the ditzy blond now bouncing towards his throne.

"Is that how you treat everyone who approaches you?" the blond spoke with a sparkle in her eyes and a devilish grin across her lips.

"This better be of importance," the Other growled, curling his fingers over the armrest of his throne.

"I am Sylvie Lushton-"

"We do not need another petty Asgardian to tromp about us again!" the Other snarled.

"Not even one who is willing to give you the information you want?" she curled her lips as she tried to hide a smirk. "I've received information that would be of great value to you, should you want it."

The Other suddenly stood up at her offer. "Do tell."

"You are in search for Loki, are you not?"

The Other let out a husky growl. "Yess," he hissed.

"Then I may be able to assist you." She let a wide smile finally break through, unable to hide it anymore.

"Cease your stalling, child!" the Other roared, causing Sylvie to jump back as she was startled by his voice.

"There is a new addition to the house of Odin. One that could, if manipulated enough, can be the downfall of the king and make way for a new kind of ruler."

The Other rolled his eyes; Just another fool wanting to gain the throne of Asgard. Must gods always be so power hungry? "Such arrogance graces your tongue."

"I simply ask you to spare Asgard in your destruction so I can rise to take control over a kingdom that lacks a ruler once you storm in and slay the royal family. Once I gain control over the ignorant newcomer and turn her to our side, I can hand you Loki and that will be the end of that. Quick. Simple. Easy to remember," she snarked.

"HE does not wish to make bargains. The time has long since passed for that."

"Then consider this an alliance."

The Other remained silent for a few moments before speaking. "Might I suggest you tell us all that you know, or otherwise you will not leave this realm alive," his voice hummed lowly.

"He is in Asgard. Locked away in a cell for the next half year. The very humans he tried to defeat are trying so desperately to gain his alliance; and everyone knows the moment he decides to let his tongue slip the information he knows, you all will be slain before the year is out-"

"Go. Leave us. It will be up for consideration whether or not we shall take your alliance at heart," he growled, sitting back down in his throne. He didn't wish to hear the rest of this banter.

Sylvie put her hands up in defeat. "So be it then," she said as she slowly started walking out of the room.

As soon as she got out earshot, he muttered to the Chitauri at his right, "Kill her," before getting up and making his way to his master. _She was but a pawn. _

"Master, we have received word on the Asgardian's location," the Other knelt down on one knee as he entered Thanos' sanctuary.

"So I've heard," Thanos shrugged off the Other's message.

"What is your plan?"

"We must wait. Our forces are weak. We cannot take an army of gods with the state our army is in," he mused lightly, fingers caressing the arm of his throne. "We must wait until they are weak, and us strong. Then we shall bring the fight to them."

* * *

The aircraft finally touched down back on the S.H.I.E.L.D aircraft carrier a good few hours after the incident with Orthani first occurred. The moon was high up in the sky and it illuminated the flight deck in an odd light.

"Will one of you bring Loki, Thor, and Nick to me?" Orthani muttered quietly as the engines were shut off and the three exited the belly of the jet. "Bring them out here. I need to talk with Loki properly this time, and then we shall be off," she exhaled, turning on her heels and heading the opposite direction as Clint and Natasha.

"Wait, you guys aren't staying?" Clint spoke, making her stop and turn around.

"What is there for us to do here?" Orthani shook her head slightly. "If I stay here any longer, I might as well be signing everyone's death warrants along with my own. Thor cannot be of any use here since the Tesseract is a dead end, and Loki must return so that I can somehow bring upon a miracle and convince the king to let him free. There is nothing we can do here until something actually happens," she reluctantly explained. "We're practically dead in the water with no way out. We know that something is out there planning something and that they're after Loki. That's it! We have nothing else to go on." She exhaled and studied the expressions on Clint and Natasha's faces. "If we need you, we will come to you. If the world is suddenly put in danger, we will come to you. That's all we can really do at the moment."

The three fell into silence for a moment, knowing that she was right.

"All I can tell you is prepare. We might need you, we might not, but if we do you can at least be ready to go to war for us. That's all we can do. We cannot fight an enemy that isn't even here yet."

Clint nodded and unfolded his arms. "I hope you know what you're doing, Ghost."

She smirked. "Don't I always?" He smiled back at her. "Now come over here and give me a hug before I leave, you. God knows I couldn't have made it this far without your help," she said, holding out her arms as Clint walked over to her and wrapped her in a tight bear hug.

"You take care of yourself, sis. Don't go blowing stuff up anymore, got it?" Clint muttered in her ear as he kept her pressed to him in a suffocating embrace.

"I can't make any promises," she chuckled, clapping him on the back and making him flinch from the hit.

He unwrapped his arms from the death grip he had around her. "Jesus, woman, you hit hard!" he exhaled sharply as he attempted to reach for the spot she had hit him in.

"Sorry. I'm stronger than I look, and I tend to forget that," she laughed, ruffling his hair and then playfully shoving his face towards the door that lead below deck. "Now get. I need the Tesseract and those three, will you? I don't want to risk going inside, or else I might kill someone again," she joked as Clint walked away from her, laughing as he shook his head.

She laughed as well and then turned to walk towards the center of the undestroyed flight deck. She suddenly felt something grab her arm.

"Hey," Natasha spoke gently as Orthani turned around to face her. "I don't think I've actually apologized for well…killing you," she looked away somewhat sheepishly as she pressed her lips into a thin line.

"Well, I am here now. No need for apologies in my eyes. You were the starting point of turning me into this, and that I cannot regret," Orthani spoke softly. "You were only doing what you were told. I cannot be angry at you for following orders."

Natasha stared at her blankly. "I shot you in the head. That kinda makes it personal," she gave Orthani a confused look.

Orthani shrugged. "Not in my eyes. Had I remained dead, yes, I would most definitely be haunting you from the grave at this very moment, but I am still here and now at a higher lifeform than I was before. If I was to remain angry after you made it possible for me to do this-" she quickly brought up her arm and snapped her fingers, letting an orange glow of flames swirl in an orb around her slightly curled fingers, "- then I would just be ungrateful for what I have been given. You are more than forgiven, Natasha. Just remember to consider the consequences next time you come face to face with someone you've been ordered to kill."

Natasha let a faint smile curl on her lips. "You know, for an assassin, you are really sort of a pushover," she joked.

Orthani laughed and closed her hand, extinguishing the ball of flame between her fingers. "In that case, put on the gloves and we'll go a few rounds one day to sort out the final score. Sound good?"

Natasha's smile widened. "It's good enough for me," she spoke as she let go of Orthani's arm. "You're going down, Ghost!" she taunted.

Orthani chuckled. "Bring it on."

"No fire, though. That would be slightly unfair," Natasha yelled back as she walked backwards towards the door.

"If you say so," Orthani held up her hands in defeat as Nick, Thor, and Loki emerged from the very door Natasha was about to go through. She watched Tasha turn around and head through the door, completely ignoring the three men as they exited.

"Let me get this straight; 7 hours after you all get here, you're leaving?" Nick fumed, stalking over to Orthani.

"I don't feel like destroying an entire base again, director. We're at a dead end, we cannot do anything else!" she snapped back.

"And what if something does happen? Hm?" Nick roared. "What are we going to do when you guys leave and we can't get in touch with you. What then?"

"Give us one of your high tech computers if communication is what you're worried about! We are at a standstill here. We cannot move until the supposed enemy does. That's just how things work," she smartly answered.

"You are not in charge here, Miss Mynx."

"I know that! What would you honestly do! Go on, what's your brilliant plan!" she yelled at him. She had enough with all of this. She just wanted to get somewhere she could relax for a bit before all hell broke loose again.

Nick opened his mouth to say something before snapping it shut again.

"That's what I thought," she said softly. "Now go on. Retrieve the Tesseract, give us what we will need to remain in contact with you-"

"Are you even sure this stuff will work back on Asgard?" Nick cut her off.

"The Tesseract will act as a beacon. As long as a connection between two devices is forged beforehand, it will be able to maintain it over in our realm," Thor spoke. Loki nodded, indicating Thor was right.

Nick glanced over the three before pursing his lips and exhaling in defeat. "I hope you all know what the fuck you're doing. Gonna give me a heart attack before this is all said and done," Nick shook his head and headed to get the Tesseract as well as a small tablet of theirs so that they could remain in some form of contact with the three demigods as long as they were in Asgard.

She turned around to face Loki and Thor and was immediately taken aback at the less than amused look on Loki's face.

"Oh don't give me that," she said desperately. "You're the one who started this mess," she pointed out when he remained silent.

He shrugged. "I am simply expressing my disdain over you getting involved in such a mess again," he exhaled.

"Well no matter how much you don't like it, I'm involved with it. You got me into this when you decided to bring me back. You can't change that." She started to turn away from him before she felt a hand grasp her arm firmly.

"Why are you once again risking everything you have for me?" he asked her in a hushed tone.

She sighed. "Because I love you," she said, not even bothering to turn to look at him. "I don't trust anyone else to teach me to control this monster I have become. I don't wish to have anyone else teach me. That is why I am freeing you." She finally turned to face him. "We will be better off with you out from behind bars even though you definitely don't deserve such freedom. S.H.I.E.L.D needs you; the world needs you. I need you. You might be...hiding certain things from me, but I don't doubt you for a second."

His silver tongue failed him when he opened his mouth to speak. He snapped his mouth shut, clenched his jaw, and then dropped her arm in a loss for words.

"Look at me," she suddenly grabbed his wrist, which made his eyes snap to hers and locked with her gaze. "I told you I'll stand by you; nothing changes that," she spoke with a more than sincere look twinkling in her eyes. "I will be here for you even though you're making it incredibly difficult for not just me, but everyone around you."

He looked away from her and off to his side, his jaw still clenched.

"Nonono, look at me," she snapped, causing his eyes to reluctantly pull back to her. "If you turn on us, Loki, it's over," she half whispered. "I can't be caught in the middle again. Not this time, so please promise me you aren't about to betray every single one of us once you regain your freedom," she begged.

He was being forced to go against his nature here and it was making him slightly nervous. He wasn't used to someone begging him to stay loyal. But this was Orthani. _His Orthani._ He didn't have the heart to go against her even if he wanted to. "Do I still have your undying trust?" he said while looking away from her.

"Of course you do. You know damn well you do," she gave a light chuckle to lighten the mood. She had just incidentally backed him into a corner and could tell he was uncomfortable with it.

"I cannot make any promises. Just know I would never do anything that would make you wish to leave my side so willingly," he said softly. "Though it might seem deceptive and out of line, know I am trying to save more than just myself."

"That doesn't sound like you-"

"Does it not?" he spoke barely above a whisper. "I cannot just be reborn once the universe is brought to its end. Should Thanos so choose-"

"Thanos? Is that who is behind all this?" she suddenly screeched.

He suddenly clapped a hand over her mouth.

"Loki, why have you not-"

"Silence, brother!" he hissed, removing his hand from Orthani's mouth. Thor was hushed almost instantly. "This stays between the three of us. Am I inescapably and clearly understood?" he spoke lowly as he saw Nick Fury emerge from below decks. "You will find out in due time. For now, that is all I can give you. Now do I have your trust?"

Orthani saw the desperation in his eyes. He was just as scared as the rest of them were.

"Do not betray me, brother," Thor said softly.

"Revenge that will end as severe as this shall if I deceive you is but a fool's mistake. I will seek my revenge once this war has been fought," Loki said seriously. "You have my word on that." Thor still gave him a look that told him he was still wary. His brother was a trouble maker; not one to give in so easily. "If you knew of what I have gone through, all the pain and suffering that I was forced to endure when I was in that pitiful excuse of a realm, you would realize I am not trying to deceive you."

Thor reluctantly accepted his answer. "I hope you are right," Thor exhaled roughly.

* * *

**A/N: **Erg, this is sorta just a filler chapter. x.x Setting the scene, tying up loose ends. Sorta uninteresting. BUT. I would rather give you a short filler chapter than have you all not knowing what the hell is going on. So it kinda got boring real quick, but that'll change next chapter.

**OperaGhost18: **Yes, yes you can! x)

**chuckythecat: **Haha, oh boy. xD I'm either gonna flop or score with the sexual stuff, and knowing me, I would probably flop, so don't get too over excited.

I'm just kidding.

**Cat-Natty: **Aw, that sounds like a dog waiting for food or something. xD Here ya go! Fresh off the presses.

**Asmos: **Oh thank you so much! That literally makes my day! x)

**Captain Cynthia: **Haha, she says as I post a boring chapter. x) Thanks though; I think I'm improving a lot since I've been writing this story nonstop for the past month or so. x.x

**TheMagentaColor: **Touche! Touche. You've got a point there.

**J: **Aw, that's sweet! -hearts-

**Dr Pantalons: **As much as I wish I could, I can't see Orthani keeping such a grudge. x.x She'll have a boxing fight with her eventually, I promise x)

**Itlava: **Aw, thank you! x)

**Lime Toaster Cat: **I've followed you back. x)

**WulfLuver22: **Pft, she can't have normal fire when she's lost it. She's gotta be badass and have black fire. Like a boss. x)

**Guest: **RED VINES.


	8. Understanding the Monster Within

"Here," Nick spoke as he handed Orthani a computer tablet and Thor the Tesseract in the device they would use to get back to Asgard. "If anything happens, and I mean anything," he gave Orthani a warning look, "you better get ahold of us immediately. Understood?"

Orthani nodded and looked to Thor, who did the same thing she did.

"Good. If you get any new information, same thing," Nick reiterated, putting his hands on his hips.

"Of course sir," she forced a smile. "Alright boys, time to head back before I decide to start murdering everything in sight," she exhaled and walked a good distance away from Nick. Loki and Thor followed her, and they stopped near the center of the second deck as Thor held the device out for Loki and Orthani to take ahold of. Loki grasped the handle firmly with his left hand, leaving just enough room for Orthani to do the same, and then wrapped his arm tightly around Orthani's waist so that her back was pressed against his chest firmly.

"Ready?" Thor smiled at how protective Loki was being towards the woman.

He watched Orthani nod and Loki do the same. After being given the go ahead, he twisted the handle, and the three were engulfed in a blue light for a few seconds before they were sucked through, being pulled towards Asgard by the Tesseract.

Orthani squinted her eyes shut at the uncomfortable feeling of her stomach lurching as they were pulled at an incredible speed towards their destination. She could never get used to the feeling of being pulled through space; it always made her feel like she was being squeezed through a straw or something. Just as she felt Loki's arm tighten its grasp around her, she felt her feet suddenly touch ground again. She waited until the deafening whooshing noise that had taken over her hearing stopped, indicating they had finally and fully arrived at their destination before she dared to open her eyes again.

"I will never get used to that," she grumbled as she let go of the handle and tore herself out of Loki's grasp.

They were back and had landed on the Bifrost once more, which was slowly but steadily being repaired. Just a stone's throw away from where they had landed were the two horses Thor and Orthani had ridden to the bridge to leave in the first place. There was Thor's brilliant white steed, built with much muscle and brawn as if it was a working horse; and then there was Loki's, which wasn't as heavily built as Thor's but had thick, long legs that was built for speed and agility, and it had a coat almost as black as night.

When Orthani started fighting her way out of Loki's grasp, he let her go and turned his gaze to that which was behind him. The dome of the Bifrost had been put back into place, but the repairs it needed were still great.

"Come along," Orthani's voice snapped him from his thoughts and he hesitantly turned back around, heading over to his horse where she was hoisting herself up to mount the majestic steed. She grabbed the reins and pulled back as the horse snorted and shuffled its feet in a minor protest. "Stop that, you stubborn thing," she muttered only to have him yank the reins out of her hands and over the horse's head so that they hung towards the ground. "Ugh, you brat," she groaned, gritting her teeth in annoyance. The horse gave a short, higher pitched nicker and turned to give her a glare of his own.

_Sdvari, calm yourself, you stubborn steed,_ he thought as he sauntered up to his horse and tugged on one side of the reins, making the horse's head turn to face him. "Behave," he said firmly, only to have the horse hang its head and paw at the ground with its hoof. Loki snatched the reins from the ground, hooked them on the horn of the saddle, and then hoisted himself into the saddle right behind Orthani. He grabbed the reins once more and gave them a quick pull, which made Sdvari's head shoot up from the ground as he let out a surprised grunt.

"He's not too fond of newcomers," he muttered in Orthani's ear as he gave her the reins. At least the beast would listen to her for now.

Thor laughed. "You need a more obedient horse, brother," his voice taunted as he mounted his own horse.

"I'm sorry, and who is the faster?" Loki taunted right back.

Thor's brow furrowed. "Is that really of importan-"

Before he could even finish his sentence, Orthani had kicked the beast in its sides and it reared back on its hind legs while letting out a loud whinny.

"Race you to the palace!" she yelled before Sdvari took off, speeding down the rainbow bridge at top speed in a full gallop.

_Oh she is a slick one, isn't she,_ Loki smirked as the two sped away from Thor and through the golden gates, heading towards the palace. They burst through the city and went flying through the streets, people quickly parting the way for them as they made haste towards the palace. As soon as they flashed by, the citizens waited for a moment before daring to walk back into the middle of the streets only to have to dash out of the way again as Thor and his horse stormed after Loki and Orthani. The gap between them was considerably growing since the brawny horse was a lot slower compared to Loki's black beauty.

When they got to the palace doors, she slowed the horse down to a slow walk before halting Sdvari altogether. When Sdvari stopped, he shook his head and snorted in disapproval.

"Behave, you stubborn beast," Loki said again as the horse stomped on the ground.

"You have a very rebellious horse," Orthani chuckled, leaning back into Loki's chest as Sdvari shuffled his feet underneath them.

He gave her a ravishing grin, one that she couldn't see since she was pressed up against his back. "Does it by chance remind you of anyone you know of?" he murmured in her ear in a low voice. She turned to look over her shoulder and meet his gaze with a slightly wide eyed stare, her jaw slightly hung open and her lips parted in that famous 'did you really just say that' way. When she turned back around, she just let out a laugh.

He slipped from the saddle and touched back on the ground, taking the reins from Orthani in the process. He snapped them to the side as his steed continued to shuffle in place. "Steady, Sdvari. If you buck her off your back, I will not be too thrilled, you headstrong mule," he said, grabbing the noseband of the bridal and bringing the horse's snout up to eye level. Sdvari gave one final snort of disapproval and stomped on the ground before finally settling down.

Orthani chuckled. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say he's actually listening to you," she shook her head as she relaxed in the saddle.

"Given that the horses of Asgard are bigger, stronger, and more intelligent than those of Midgardian birth, I would hope he is," Loki spoke as he brushed the gentle giant's mane away from his eyes. "Come now, should we be heading inside?"

"We must wait for Thor, yes? I've yet to rub it in his face that we've won," she smirked.

He gazed at her for a moment with a small grin curled on his lips before his eyes darted to study the skyline of Asgard in the darkest of night. How the hell she had managed to make the trifle and the stress from a possible universal war melt away from him as if it was nothing was beyond him, but he wasn't complaining. For someone to veer his mind away from something that was bound to turn him into an irritable, impatient and excessively cruel god was a statement.

What had he done to deserve her? He had been nothing but trouble from the moment he was born, he was sure of it. What could he have done to deserve someone who was going to lengths beyond what she should have in order to not only grant him pardon of his prison sentence, but also going above and beyond that to help him with whatever was thrown in his direction throughout the course of this war. He hadn't done anything like she was to him, and though while raising her from the dead is quite the accomplishment, the fact he had given her such a destructive power she was still trying to fight in a way cancelled out that feat.

She was his by some odd fluke and turn of events, and by god was he going to cling to her to the very end of this war and beyond if they managed to miraculously win. He knew deep inside him that he probably would've already switched sides by now had it not been for her sticking with him after all this time.

"Hey," Orthani's voice snapped him from his thoughts as she nudged his arm with her foot. "You've gone off in a daze; what on Asgard are you thinking about?" she gave a slight chuckle as she spoke.

He simply gave her a look; a look that had a faint sparkle in his slightly narrowed eyes, a light smirk plastered across his lips and his brow slightly cocked as he glanced at her over his shoulder.

"Ooo, that's a dangerous look," she said in a hushed tone, unable to keep herself from biting her lip.

He let a chuckle hum at the back of his throat and he moved his head suddenly to try and shake the few strands that had escaped the slicked back locks out of his face. He clasped his hands behind his back. "I know not what you speak of," he said smoothly, trying to keep the smirk from growing wider on his face.

Oh did he love it when she stirred up this flirtatious and amorous banter. She complimented his mischievous side so incredibly well when such taunting words were exchanged between them. It was so refreshing to him, to have a woman at his side who could understand the language he spoke so clearly, enough to where she was able to speak it right back. Oh did he love that playful, devious side to her that he could never get enough of.

"You're a terrible liar," he heard her laugh as she dismounted the horse, sliding from the saddle and planting her feet firmly on the ground.

"Am I lying, or am I simply doing what I do best?" he said smartly, looking over his left shoulder as she approached him on that side.

"Oh, and that would be what?" She spoke with a slight amount of cheek that was enough to get him to see her flirtatious attitude.

He grinned, unable to keep it from surfacing any longer. "To say exactly what needs to be said in order to provoke a certain reaction from you; a reaction most wanted, might I so add," he said poetically while looking at her out of the corner of his eye.

"Ah, well in that case, you won't get it from me," she taunted him, taking a step back before he was able to reach out and grab her arm; she barely made it out of his reach. She laughed at his failed attempt.

"Tease," he hissed lightheartedly.

She crossed her right leg behind her left and gave a quick yet graceful bow. "It's what I do best," she sarcastically flaunted as she stood straight again.

"Now that is frightening," he said with a sudden straight face, which quickly dropped when his lips twitched and a smirk flashed across them briefly.

She laughed. She loved this side of him, and the last time she had truly seen it in full was when they were out destroying her old beat up truck and not having a care in the world. She in a way missed it, such a playful, childish side of him that had no worries of what was to come. It never came out too often and was practically a rarity in these trying times, but when it did, she couldn't help but adore it and go along with him.

"Gods, what the hell has gotten into you now," she said as her laughter subsided. He was in a good mood for once; that was odd.

He smirked. "You should be asking yourself that, my love," she spoke in a low hum as they both heard the thundering of hooves grow closer to them. Thor must have finally caught up to them.

"Do you realize how reckless that was?" his voice thundered as he slowed his horse to a halt near them.

Orthani looked at him blankly. "Yes."

"Could you not be more careful next time?" he growled as he jumped off his horse.

"Uh, no. That takes the fun out of it," she shrugged.

Thor gave her a hard glare and her smirk fell immediately. "Fine, I won't do it again Thor," she huffed, rolling her eyes as her shoulders slumped.

Thor hesitated before his hard stare turned into a chuckle. "This is what I have had to put up with for the past two weeks since you have been imprisoned," Thor spoke to his brother.

"As long as she is causing as much trouble for you and father is possible, I cannot apologize for that," Loki straightened his face and his posture as Thor turned to lead them into the palace.

"Unfortunately I must put you back in your cell until I am able to convince father to pardon you as per Orthani's request," Thor ignored his comment.

"Ah, yes. Must there always be a catch," Loki rolled his eyes. Just like that, his good mood vanished. He clasped his hands behind his back and growled as he followed Thor. When he realized he didn't hear footsteps behind him, he looked over his shoulder.

She had…vanished?

He stopped walking and turned around fully. She definitely wasn't following them. He glanced around quickly. "Orthani?" His quiet voice echoed off the walls lightly, and in turn caused Thor to turn around as well, not knowing what his brother was doing.

She had disappeared in the night without a trace…again.

"Sometimes I worry about her," Thor said to his brother as he walked back to stand beside him. Loki snarled at him. "Easy, brother. I do not mean to intrude. I just mean that she can sometimes get herself into places she shouldn't like this," he put up his hands in surrender.

Loki's eyes softened as he tossed Thor a glance over his shoulder. "There is no need to worry over her," he spoke in a hushed tone, his eyes shifting over the floor.

"Then why do I see it in your eyes?" Thor said as his brow creased. "Speak your mind, brother. I have never judged you before. We might be on ill terms, but since when has that stopped us before?"

Loki turned his head slightly to see Thor's expression out of the corner of his eye. He exhaled softly. He knew that even though he hated his brother for making him live in a shadow for most of his life, he also was the only one that ever looked at him without casting him aside as the outcast.

"If I was in your position, I would worry over her as well. However, it is both fortunate and unfortunate that I know her as well as I do. I no longer worry over the state of her wellbeing; I know she can handle herself very well on her own. Though I do so fear that one day she will disappear without a sound or word, and she won't come back…" he said as he stared up towards the ceiling. "Gone without a trace and never to return again," he exhaled as he lowered his head. "It is only a matter of time, I can tell."

"I'm right here," a voice echoed behind them, and both Thor and Loki swirled around to see her leaning against the wall just down the corridor before it split off into two different directions.

Loki's chin briefly cocked to the side as a chuckle got caught in his throat. "Playing the invisible woman again, are we?" he said with a forced faint smile curled across his lips. He walked towards her with his hands behind his back.

"I'm just another shadow on the wall, right?" she bantered back, smiling as he approached her. He swiftly dipped his head to catch her lips with his in a gentle but desperate kiss. He couldn't help but let a smirk shine through when he felt her hands clench the lapels of his jacket to pull him closer. "I've got business of my own to attend to, you know," she said as she pulled away from him.

"Business that you're hiding from me why, exactly," he spoke as his brow creased.

She chuckled. "I'll tell you as soon as you get out; I promise," she told him before standing up on her toes to kiss his cheek and then retrieving from his arms. "Now go on and run along. I'll be here when you get out." She gently squeezed his arm before walking back down the hallway she had gone down before.

"One would only hope," she heard his voice echo against the walls as she walked, which made her smile.

* * *

She quickly darted up to her chambers. She was on a mission; one that required she looked a little less…well, intimidating. She took off her armor and changed into a more feminine look; a two piece dress made of black silk that left her midriff and shoulders exposed but covered her arms with loose, gown style sleeves and a lightweight skirt that just barely hit the floor.

She wrestled her hair back into her signature half up, half down style and saw she still had several cuts and bruises that hadn't yet healed from her battle on the flight deck. She exhaled lightly. _Scars of battle. If I am judged by them, then so be it. _

She darted out of her room without a second thought and headed towards the top of the palace, her bare feet making little to no noise as she padded down the halls. She darted up a spiral staircase and made her way to the chambers of the king and queen.

She heard two voices talking all the way down the hall, and she could tell that Sif was in the company of the good Queen Frigga. _Great. That's just what I wanted, _she thought as she approached the archway that led into the magnificent quarters of their majesties.

She exhaled quickly before standing in that archway, now unhidden from everyone's eye. Sif was sitting in an exquisite chair with a chalice of wine in her hand, her face hidden behind the frame; Frigga had her back to the door just a few paces away from where Sif sat, her golden locks falling over one shoulder and her light blue night gown looked to be grey in the lighting. The golden room had a dull golden glow to it, and the shadows cast around the room seemed to loom over even the farthest corners.

"Dare I interrupt the conversation at hand?" she spoke quietly, which made Sif and Frigga turn to her, somewhat shocked that someone had approached them in such a way. "My apologies, my queen," Orthani said as she knelt down to the ground on one knee and snapped an arm across her chest, her head bowing ever so slightly. "I would not have approached you so informally if it wasn't of importance, but might I speak to you?" she said respectfully.

Frigga seemed to eye her somewhat suspiciously. "Yes, you may," she said firmly, folding her hands in front of her.

"Privately?" Orthani implied as she stood on both her feet again.

Silence fell briefly as Frigga looked to her and then to Sif, giving her a slight nod as if she was dismissing her from her presence.

"Of course, my queen," Sif nodded and got up, placing the chalice in her hand on a mahogany table and then quietly leaving the room, giving Orthani a not so friendly glare as she left.

"I believe we got off on the wrong foot," Orthani spoke when Sif had departed. "The last time you saw me, I was killing men in your court," she said as she slowly drifted into the room, glancing around at her surroundings. It was a much bigger room than the one she had, and it had such elegance and design that it made her feel like she was truly in the presence of royalty. "I was speaking to your husband in such a vile tone of disrespect simply to get what I wanted."

"Must you only return to remind me of such tortures, or is there more to what you are saying," Frigga said somewhat impatiently, watching the woman before her intently as if she was going to suddenly spring into action.

"You have no reason to be uneasy around me, my queen," Orthani shifted her gaze to the floor as she gave a lighthearted smile. "I simply come to talk to you about your son. I am unarmed; nor do I have the intention to do harm," she said, trying to ease the queen's nerves. "I have already phased through a destructive transformation earlier this evening when Thor and I returned to Midgard. I can assure you, it won't happen again for quite some time," she gave her a weak smile.

Frigga gave a moment of hesitation before nodding slightly and then gesturing to the seat Sif had once been sitting in. "Sit, and we shall talk," she said, taking the chalice that Sif had left and dumping what remained out the window as Orthani took a seat in the chair Sif had once been in. "Whatever Thor might have done or said to you to cause you to come to me, I do so apologize. He has grown since his outcast, but he is still learning-" she spoke as she grabbed a clean chalice off a shelf and poured a generous amount of red wine in it for her guest. She was however cut off by Orthani.

"I am not here because of Thor," she said quickly before Frigga could continue.

Frigga froze and set the chalice down on a countertop just in front of her. She set the elegant bottle of wine down as well and put her hands on the counter. "So you are here to speak of Loki, are you?" she said quietly over her shoulder.

"Why else would I come to speak to you at such ungodly hour of night?" Orthani answered her. "I tell you I am here to speak to you about your son, and your mind directly goes to Thor?" she questioned as Frigga brought her the chalice of wine and set it on the small mahogany table beside her chair.

"Loki has been gone. He has lost his status as Prince of Asgard, and he has been locked behind bars for his crimes. He has become so distant, he no longer feels like he is my son," she spoke quietly, sitting in a chair just opposite Orthani. "Why do you ask of him?"

"Because we need him out from behind bars," Orthani said outright. "The more he stays there, the more we risk losing a possible universal war-"

"I cannot do anything to help you."

"You can speak with the Allfather. You can convince him to pardon his prison sentence-"

"There is not much I can say to Odin that will change his mind," Frigga once again cut her sentence short.

Orthani exhaled. "You weren't there today on Earth when I turned. You didn't see him when he was dragged out from his cell to help defeat the very thing he created," Orthani said softly, taking the cup in her hand and taking a small sip of the deep red liquid staining the sides of the glass.

Frigga furrowed her brow. "Loki was with you?" she asked in confusion.

Orthani nodded. "Thor apparently talked to the Allfather as I was down on Earth destroying a government base of operations, convinced him to let Loki free long enough to rein me back in, and that was that," she said simply as she put the glass back on the table. "Your son could have refused and watched as Thor and I battled it out on the deck of a S.H.I.E.L.D base and could have let me destroy half of the thing before I snapped out of it. Instead, he took it upon himself to stop me and rein in my unruly destruction to bring me back into control."

Frigga remained silent.

"He could have let me destroy the very agency that he was up against during his war with Midgard; instead he chose the alternate decision. If doubt is what is keeping him locked away, then let that erase any doubt in your mind," Orthani spoke barely over a whisper.

"I want my son to be free just as much as you do," Frigga replied as she gazed to the floor off to her right. "But I know that he cannot be trusted at the moment-"

"I trust him. I trust him with my life," Orthani shrugged. "I have given him my full and unwavering trust, and he has yet to deceive me or go against me in any way other than if it was for my own good or to protect me," she hung an arm over the chair. "Within the first 48 hours of knowing him, he had told me his story; and within the first 72, we were already running around as a team. And you claim you cannot trust him?" she spoke with a tone of disbelief.

"That is because you two share a connection-"

"A connection forged because I never dared to make a step against him," Orthani corrected. "I have yet to make any mistake of loyalty to him. The moment I do, I can guarantee you I will only be just another mistake to him. That is not an excuse," she said firmly but with the upmost respect.

"So why do you wish him to be free?" Frigga quickly changed the topic. Orthani could tell it was making her uneasy, talking so openly about her lost son.

"Because he is the only person I feel comfortable with in training me to not be such an uncontrollable merciless killer due to the powers he has given me. He is the only man I believe who can truly be able to control it and teach me how to control it in turn." She wasn't lying, either. The way he was so quickly able to get her to stand down and force away that murdering mistress made it clear to her he was the one who should be teaching her such sorcery, not this Sylvie Thor had introduced her to. "Sylvie's help has only made it worse, for the fight over control has become a physically exhausting battle that ends with me looking as I do now," she chuckled as she pointed to the still healing wounds on her face and body. "He is of more use to us out from behind bars. If we let him go about whatever plans he has to fight this, then we have more of a chance at winning whatever is out to get us."

Frigga exhaled, knowing she was presenting a good argument that she couldn't refute. "He still believes himself to be a monster," she said quietly, fidgeting with her hands. "Even if we do release him, he will still continue to be that monster he has created for himself." She slowly stood up out of her chair and walked over to the burning fireplace across the room.

"I have not seen a Frost Giant before, nor have I actually heard of their story, but he is no monster. Being one of them by blood definitely doesn't make him one in spirit. He is definitely no monster," Orthani said, leaning forward in her seat.

"The stories told of them make them out to be monsters," Frigga replied as she gazed into the flickering flames.

Orthani hesitated before speaking up. "And what are these stories?" she asked gently, wondering if this was something she should even be bringing up. "Loki has told me of his parentage, but he has not told me everything. He fears I will look at him differently if he does ever decide to speak of it to me, no matter how much I tell him otherwise."

Frigga sighed. "There was a war a very, very long time ago. Odin had been king for just over a handful of years when the Jotuns declared war on Midgard, where they started killing off the human race as if it was no match for them," she spoke slowly. "Odin, as king of Asgard and protector of the realms, went to their aid. The battle was long, harsh; many lives were lost. The Frost Giants are a cruel race. They kill because they are superior when they have their Casket at their hands. They are merciless, and can destroy everything in their path and can practically freeze everything they touch."

_It's no wonder he sees himself as a monster_ Orthani thought to herself as she remained quiet, intently listening to what the queen was telling her.

"Odin proceeded to force the Jotuns and their king, Laufey, back to the barren frost lands of Jotunheim where Odin made them surrender and give up their Casket to prevent their reign of terror over the nine realms ever again. It was a truce: they were to be spared being slain if they gave up their source of power."

Orthani pursed her lips. This was the first time she had heard the story in such detail that it absolutely fascinated her. "And what of Loki?" she asked warily, knowing she was treading in on a very touchy topic.

"When Odin raided their castle he found a child; barely even a month old, left to die in the cold. It was Laufey's bastard child, rather small for a Jotun's offspring. Odin told me the moment he picked the poor child up and touched his skin, the sapphire color faded and the blood red eyes turned green. He could not bring himself to abandon a child at such a young age who was so susceptible to identify with another race after being cast out. He brought him back; we raised him as our own. I always had a feeling he could tell he was different, but we never spoke of his lineage. We tried to protect him. We didn't want to alienate him. We didn't want him to feel out of place. This was his home, and it still is his home. Nothing will change that."

Orthani kept silent, biting the inside of her lip as she could feel the room's atmosphere change into a darker feeling.

"We are his parents, and he is our son, regardless of blood. Laufey is dead, killed by Loki; killed at the hands of his very own blood. You would think that would be enough to satisfy Loki's turmoil, but no. It has drug on to this. I told Odin that telling and retelling those stories of the Frost Giants would end up coming back to hurt us in the end. Look where it has landed us; on the brink of yet another war with no end to the fighting in sight."

Orthani sighed. "Then let him prove himself," she replied softly. "Let him rise up. Let him take this war head on. That's all he wishes to do in the first place," she said hoarsely as she stood up to join Frigga over by the fireplace. "Look to his reasons; he killing Laufey was a way of him saying 'look at me, look at what I've done for you. I have just killed the leader of these people to prove to you I am not one of them.' He's trying to separate himself from the breed of monster that runs through his blood. He doesn't wish to see you or the Allfather look at him as a Frost Giant; he wants to be seen as someone worthy of that which you are giving Thor. He has tried countless times to try and rise up only to be pushed back down again, am I correct? He's given up. He's surrendered to that monster you have made him out to be. He sits as Prince of Asgard, yet he has been taught that Jotuns are subhuman; so what does that make him? His entire life is a set of contradictions. One lie after the other, built on top of each other so that when one surfaces, everything he knows collapses. He is no longer the God of Mischief; he has become the God of Mayhem, and it is something that cannot be stopped." She paused for a moment before continuing. "Maybe if you come to terms with what he has come to know, and treat him as if you know and don't treat it as such a foul thing to mention, but yet don't care of what runs through his blood, you might see a change in him. If you stop looking at him like he is actually associated with that race of so called monsters, maybe he will come back to you. Of course, I doubt it this late in his madness, but who's to say we cannot try?"

Frigga looked at her with a sincere gaze. The irony of this situation was outstanding; the woman standing before her made herself out to be a monster in order to work her way into the house of Odin, yet here she stood before her as gentle and as tame as could be.

Maybe she had some sense in her. Maybe she wasn't as bad as she had made herself out to be in the beginning.

"Speak to the Allfather. Convince him to free him." Orthani's voice snapped her from her thoughts. "I need him; for he might be the only one who can save my life. And as much as we might not see it, the universe probably needs him as well. He is of no use to us behind bars."

Frigga inhaled sharply before exhaling the breath slowly. She nodded and then returned her gaze to the flickering fire before her. "I will see what I can do."

* * *

**A/N:**Ok, so I'm back after a 3 day hiatus. Sorry about that. I wanted to see how I would write if I didn't have the pressure of a constant update schedule on my shoulders.

THAT BEING SAID. I'm gonna change up the post schedule so that I can get better and longer chapters out to you guys. As you can see from the above update, I do a lot better with a day or two off. So I'm gonna post on Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays (Because it would be a sin to not post on THORSDAY!) and Saturday. If I do that, I can actually get reeeeaaaally good updates to you guys and since I don't have to follow the plotline of a movie anymore, trust me you guys reeeaaallllllyyy would appreciate that, I can already tell. x)

**IvyLinkin: **Uuuh, yes she's dead. Unless my brain thinks of another use for her.

**4everYoung93: **That. Is. So. Fucking. Sweet. I have never been more flattered, nor has anyone called me Stan Lee in disguise. YOU DESERVE A HIGH FIVE AND A HUGE HUG. I LOVE YOU, BUT NOT LIKE LOVE LOVE, BUT YOU GET THE PICTURE. Thank you sooooooo much. I can't say that enough.

**Guest: **RED VINES.

**Tigger:** It's not necessarily just dark, it's more when she feels trapped. Whenever she feels threatened or overwhelmed by her environment, she has a potential to turn. But the dark helps. I can tell you that when she put her hand down and closed her eyes at S.H.I.E.L.D, that is what left her open to the turn, so not only does she have to be anxious/overstimulated in an environment, she has to have some sort of dark around her, even if it is the slightest bit.

I don't think I've ever really explained it fully, so it's perfectly fine. =) Hopefully this helped. If not, hit me up and I'll try and explain it again.

**Guest: **I just spit Dr. Pepper across the room when I read that. xD Welcome back!

**Goldbee: **They know if they don't remain strong, they'd be screwed. x)

**Guest: **I can write a series of one shots or something! And by one shots, I mean like...short 4 or 5 chapter stories, but only if people request for them. If you guys love the character enough to keep wanting to see her life with Loki in Asgard and their many possible problems and adventures, then I'll be glad to do short little stories for as long as you guys are interested. =)

**Guest: **Om nom nom!

You're English is fine, don't worry about it. =)

**Jenna A. L. Marie: **I'm looking forward to it. =)

**Kat: **Haha, I'm sorry! Here's the next installment, so hopefully it'll give you something to do now.

**WulfLuver22: **Slightly, yes. x) Though I believe Loki's too smart to slip a name unintentionally. And yeah. Sylvie is dead...I think. I don't think she has much more use...

**J: **Sorry. 3 day hiatus. x.x BUT yes she will have an awesome kickass moment with Nat. I have to put that in somewhere. x)

**TheMagentaColor: **I would sure hope so! xD And I think they just got cuter. -points to chapter above-

**LiteralIrony: **BESTIEEEEE! And yeah. I live on detail writing.

**Shikaku Ryoko: **Thank youuuu!

**OperaGhost18:** I love love LOOOOVE that story, oh my gooood. And the smut was AH MAY ZING. Holy shit. I don't know if I can do that well, ever. That was perfect. (At least for a Loki/OC story it was.) x) I'll do my best, but hot dayumn.

**Lime Toaster Cat: **Haha, sorry. I can't really utilize much of the Avengers at this point in the story, otherwise I'd be writing the shit out of all their characters.

In the future, definitely he will be there. As of now, he isn't of much use to me literary speaking.

**kittykatiekat5549: **Here ya go. x)

**chuckythecat: **Bahaha, I wouldn't give you a crap smut chapter. Heeeelll naw. I don't roll like that, ever. x)


	9. Fire and Ice

Two weeks passed by and nothing happened. Loki remained behind bars, no matter what Thor said to his father. Nothing changed, and Orthani had guessed she had failed when she had spoken to Frigga. She guessed that what she said wasn't enough to get the queen to try and relentlessly convince the Allfather to release him.

The atmosphere at the dinner feast was upbeat to those around her, but Thor and Orthani weren't participating in the merrymaking and the infamous House of Odin constant celebrating. Orthani was low because she had failed to get Loki out, and Thor was down because his father still refused to see to his reasoning.

_Why must this be so hard?_ She hadn't turned since she had gotten back, but that might've partially been due to Sylvie's sudden disappearance and the fact she no longer had someone picking at her brain. She was struggling though. She did, in a way, promise to see to Loki's early freedom, and her one last stand had apparently failed her miserably. She couldn't even go down to the prisons to tell him that since Odin had him under a strict order of solitary confinement without any visitors, and the little trick she had pulled the last time wouldn't give her enough time to speak to him anyways.

"Lady Orthani, dear?" Frigga's voice spoke to her from across the table. Orthani was sitting across from her, one chair over so that she was facing an empty seat where Loki would normally be sitting. She was sandwiched in between Fandral, who was to her right, and Volstagg, on her left. The royal family sat on the opposite side of the table in glorious golden chairs that resembled smaller thrones while everyone else sat on the other side on golden benches. Frigga sat beside her husband, and Thor took his seat to the right of his father.

"Yes, my queen?" she hesitated before answering as she looked up from her plate. She had been picking at the food on her plate, just sort of pushing it around to make it look like she was eating.

"Are you alright, dear? You haven't so much as touched the food on your plate?" she asked softly so that everyone else who was enjoying Volstagg's wild story couldn't hear her.

Orthani forced a smile. "I'm fine, I can assure you," she forced out. "I've just been feeling slightly ill lately, tis all," she said after a quick thought.

"Oh, well by all means dear, if you feel ill, you are more than welcome to dismiss yourself from the dinner feasts early if you so choose," she offered, a concerned expression concealed in the crease of her brow.

"I think I am fine, my queen," Orthani forced out another smile.

"Are you sure, dear child?" Frigga swiftly stood from her seat and glided over to her side of the table. "Your cheeks are pale, and your eyes look to be tired," she said as she bent over to press the back of her hand on Orthani's forehead. "And you're burning up, child!" she gasped softly, her hand recoiling from her forehead. "Come, you should not be out here if you are ill! You should be in bed," she took Orthani's arm and helped her gently from her seat. Orthani reluctantly obliged, holding the hem of her skirt up so that she wouldn't trip on it as she was escorted out of the room. Lately, she had taken to wearing the lighter weight Asgardian dresses and skirts since her armor hardly let her skin breathe. Until the time where she would need it again, she had retired her armor to her chambers. That time had yet to come.

As she was escorted out by Frigga, who kept an arm around Orthani's shoulder as if she was trying to hold her steady, she felt eyes staring holes in the back of her chest. She put her sleeved arms over her bare stomach, already feeling uneasy as the chatter of the room went down almost immediately.

"Sorry," Frigga whispered as they went through the doors of the mess hall and out into the corridors, a slight wince on her face. "I tried to get you out without drawing too much attention to us, and I apparently wasn't subtle enough," she said as the doors closed behind her. She took her arm from around Orthani's shoulder and moved her so that she was standing directly in front of her. "I am sorry. I tried to talk to him, but he said as every good king should, a crime is a crime and must be punished. He keeps to that, regardless of if it is his son or not."

Orthani nodded. "It's completely understandable. It was a longshot anyhow," she shrugged, her fingers clawing at the sides of her stomach. The silk of her sleeves against her naval was soothing to her for some odd reason.

Frigga tried to give her a smile but it came out more like a grimace. "I am sorry, dear. I can tell it upsets you," she said as she reached out and brushed away the black side-parted bangs away from her eyes and tucked them behind Orthani's ear. "I have tried my best and unfortunately, it wasn't quite enough."

"It's fine, my queen. It is only a little over five months before he is to be let out. I believe I can live that long without him," Orthani forced another smile. _God knows I've done it so many times before now._

Frigga nodded even though she could see right through the fake smile she had been given. "Go on and get to bed early tonight. I can send a tonic up to you later if you so wish?"

Orthani shook her head. "I think I'm fine, really. A good night's sleep should do me well, honestly."

Frigga nodded hastily. "Alright, child. Sleep well. Do call a guard and send for me should you need anything, and don't hesitate to do so."

"Thank you, my queen," Orthani nodded and turned slowly to head to her quarters. She slowly stepped down the hall silently, hugging her arms around her middle and keeping her shoulders pulled to her body. She was barely able to make it up the golden staircase without tripping over her strapped heels, but she made it up nonetheless. She made it up to her room and didn't bother to close the door all the way before she collapsed on the small, rounded balcony just to the left of her bed. It was small, maybe two people could sit there, and had a bench that took up the entire half circle that had a cushion on it, making it a Shakespearian style Juliet balcony where she could curl up, rest her arms and her head on the gold railings raising a little over a foot above the bench, and just look out on the realm of Asgard. She kicked off her heels and folded her legs underneath her, allowing her silken skirt to hang down and hit the floor of her room.

_Only a few more months of this, I can handle it,_ she thought as she skimmed the skyline of Asgard, the sun barely underneath the horizon at this point. _So what if I'm lying to myself. I can handle this_.

She exhaled as she watched out in the distance as the stars slowly started becoming visible in the freshly fallen night sky. She let the sounds of the people way off in the distance lull her mind to sleep.

Peace at last.

Her mind was in a blank sleep; no dreaming, no restless thoughts, it was completely empty: A dreamless sleep; dead and dreary. She slept like this for god knows how long before she awoke. At the time it was like her brain knew something she didn't and stirred her from her black abyss of useless rest.

She stirred and cracked an eye open, noticing that the sun was definitely still far from rising. The many moons of Asgard were, however, shining overhead and basking the city in an eerie white glow beneath her perch.

After she had gathered her surroundings, she moved; her body protested as she arched her back as she tried to stretch out the muscles not only there, but in her arms and neck as well. She stretched until her muscles screamed at her to stop a few seconds later and then relaxed, resting her head against a propped up arm.

Something was off. Something didn't feel right to her. She had slept for maybe four hours. Why was she waking up now? Surely it wasn't because she was sleeping in a less than comfortable position. She lifted her head up and rolled her neck but then quickly stopped when she realized the candle lights in her room had gone out. She froze and her eyes widened. _Those are eternally burning flames. They don't go out unless someone blows them out,_ she realized suddenly.

She was half afraid to turn around. With the threat of a war and her knowledge that it was Thanos who was chasing Loki down like an animal on a hunt, she didn't want to turn and find the devil staring at her while she slept. She didn't even have a dagger on her to protect herself at the moment. Half of them were all the way across the room, well out of her reach.

_Way to go, Orthani. You let your guard down, and then they strike. Fabulous. Wait! Just pretend to go back to sleep. That always works, right?_ She acted as though she was stretching again before adjusting her position and resting her head in her arms once more. Even if there wasn't someone in her room, she wasn't even close to being courageous enough to find out.

"Your little act cannot fool me," a fluid, low voice pierced the silence and practically made her jump out of her skin, startled that she was actually right about someone being behind her. Her head flew upright and a hand flew to her chest, clutching her heart as it sporadically thudded in her chest from the scare.

It took her a second to process that the voice was familiar to her. She gave an exhale of relief and closed her eyes as she dropped her head, trying to get her heart rate to slow down before she had a heart attack. "Fucking hell," she exhaled, her voice shaky and somewhat strained.

"I did not mean to startle you," the same voice spoke again from within the confines of her darkened room.

Her head shot up yet again. She knew that voice like she knew the back of her hand. "Loki?" She spun around to look over her shoulder. She could barely make out the outline of a person standing in the center of her quarters; perfect posture, feet at least shoulder length apart, and their head slightly tilted upward as though they were holding their chin up.

She heard a faint chuckle. "Who else would be so bold as to walk into your quarters uninvited whilst you slept? I'm sure had anyone else dared to do so, you would have already killed them by now," she heard his unmistakably cool and collected voice drone back at her.

Her jaw dropped slightly, leaving her mouth barely hanging open. "They…What? How?" she stuttered, shocked that he was standing before her. Sure, she hadn't yet seen his face because he was hiding in the shadows of her room, but it was still undoubtedly him.

"Was that not the plan all along? Pardon my sentences and let me live in freedom?" he questioned her shocked confusion as he slowly stepped towards her, his hands clasped behind his back. He walked into the beam of light the moon was casting into her room so that she could see him finally.

"But…that was two weeks ago! Your mother just told me she hadn't been able to convince the Allfather to free you…" she trailed off, staring at him in puzzlement.

His confusion dropped. His mother? _What happened to bring my mother into this?_ "Well he obviously changed his mind. I was set free just two hours past. I have yet to be reinstated as a prince, but I highly doubt that will ever come to pass. You don't seem to be thrilled with my freedom," he hummed lightly, narrowing his eyes as he studied her body language, searching for every small detail that would spill to him her every secret she was keeping from him should she have any.

"Well, I'm slightly confused, yes," she spoke, trying to get her mind to think straight for a moment. "Your mother just told me not too long ago that she tried and failed to see to your release! It's strange to see you actually standing in front of me when just a few hours back, I had come to the realization I wouldn't be seeing you in quite some time," her voice grew softer as she spoke.

His eyes hardened as she spoke. "My mother?" He couldn't keep himself from asking the question any longer. "Is that where you went that night when you disappeared on Thor and myself as he took me back to my prison; was my mother?" he said, a faint snarl curling at the corners of his lips. "As I was being walked back to captivity, instead of staying by my side until they closed the gates, you went and spoke to my _mother_, who has betrayed me my entire life? Not even a single farewell was muttered from your tongue as you sauntered off to speak to someone who is just about as helpful as an ignorant _cow?_" he spat as he drew closer to her. "Are you purposefully mocking me?" he snapped, towering over her with such a menacing aura that she cowered away from him. That move only led to him slamming both of his hands down on the rail of the balcony on both sides of her, trapping her in. She jumped at the sudden movement of being trapped in, and she was forced to stare him in his furious eyes. "You abandoned _my _side as I walked down to my misery with but a slight chance of emerging earlier than planned, and you ran off to my lying, twisted, and lowlife of a _mother?_" he roared in her face as she shrunk away from him.

By the nines did this scare her stiff. She hadn't ever seen him this angry over one small little thing.

His frightening snarl slipped for a split second when he saw the flash of terror cross Orthani's eyes but he quickly regained his posture. He knew what her intentions were, but to go to the very people who made him an outcast, who made him the monster he really was? He would rather have stayed locked up than to have the pity of such arrogant fools.

"So this is the thanks I get for managing to convince them to grant you pardon?" she spoke softly, her voice trembling as she forced the words to form on her tongue. "I get blamed at for having the decency to go to the only people who had control over the situation?" she fought back, suppressing the tears of god knows what emotions were running through her at the moment. After a week of anxiety of wondering if he was going to be let go or kept in captivity, everything inside her just had a meltdown. She broke from the stress of it all.

He scoffed. "I would have rather remained in a cell." He put his nose a mere centimeters away from her face, his snarling lips stealing away the air she was breathing it seemed. "You should have kept your pathetic tongue in line, you lousy _quim._" He bolted away from her suddenly and started pacing her room angrily.

That jab stung her to the core. No matter what she could have done in that situation, he was going to be mad at her. "Loki, I-"

"Enough!" his growl cut her off. "I've heard plenty from you."

"After all I've done for you! I convinced your mother to see that you aren't the monster you portray yourself to be! I told her this would be your redemption, and _this is what you give me? _You rage at me for going to her to plead that she speak with the Allfather to pardon you; all I did was convince her to look past the horrors you have brought to them and to see an ounce of compassion! Are you honestly that ungrateful?" she yelled at him, unable to keep the tears from forming under her eyes. "After everything I've done, and after everything they have done? They removed the death sentence from your forehead-"

"Only because you convinced them to-"

"Because you had no sense of humility to do it for yourself!" she shrieked at him. "You should be grateful you at least have parents who care enough to listen to those around him when it concerns your fate," she stood up swiftly from her perch. "I was shoved in a box, told to sit down, shut my mouth, curl up in a corner, and die. And here you are being reluctantly welcomed, but welcomed home nonetheless and you are mad at _me_ for convincing them to give you mercy? Are you so fucking prideful; are you that fucking arrogant to dare aim your anger towards me?"

The snarl quickly vanished as he saw tears flash down her cheeks so quickly he barely caught sight of them. The intensity on his face didn't leave, however. He halted his pacing and simply stared at her, waiting for her next words to come flying at him like blades to his chest.

"I am not trying to hurt you; I am trying to help you. Yet when I try, you throw such spiteful words at me as if I am your worst enemy. Am I that dispensable to you?"

"It isn't that simple, Orthani," he hushed her, a growl emitting from his throat as he spoke. She could never be dispensable to him, though he would never dare admit it out loud. The candles that were extinguished suddenly sparked back to life, illuminating the room in a soft orange glow.

"She told me everything!" she squeaked, hardly able to believe he was still fighting her over this. "She told me about the Frost Giants. She told me about Laufey. She told me everything you never dared to speak of. It isn't as complicated as it seems-"

"Then she obviously didn't tell you everything!" he snapped at her.

"Then stop yelling at me for having a lack of information and tell me!" she retorted, her voice cracking under the emotions swirling in her chest. "For fucks sake, Loki. If you weren't happy about what I did for you, just tell me to leave. Don't tear me down for it," she pleaded, regaining control of her out-of-hand emotions and swiping the tears off her cheeks with the back of her hand.

He clenched his jaw and forced himself to tear his gaze from her. His eyes darted around him, landing on everything in the room but her. "Then leave," he said hoarsely after inhaling sharply.

"Excuse me?"

"Do you honestly want to deal with the monster my mother has made me out to be?" he snapped angrily before she could get another word out. "Leave me."

"You aren't a monster to me-"

"Am I not?" he snarled, suddenly swirling to her and moving so close to her that their noses were almost touching. "Do not tell me you can't see the vileness, the cruelty written on my face. Can you not see the bleak grimness hiding beneath my eyes that speak nothing but anger, betrayal, contempt and pure _hatred_ for those who ever dared to get close to me?" As he started to walk towards her, she walked back at an equal pace. He was slowly backing her into a corner like an animal for kill. His eyes had gone black in his demonic state. "I can rip you apart without even laying a finger on you; I can manipulate your feeble and insolent mind to bend to my every command by using only mere words; I can destroy you from the inside and you dare so claim-" he suddenly grabbed her arms and forced her to the wall, and an audible noise of surprise got caught in her throat, "-that I am no monster?"

The look in his eyes had the same deadly look he had given the Widow when he was locked up with S.H.I.E.L.D. It was a look that could strike fear in even the bravest of warriors.

"Look at me," she barely whispered, breaking past the paralysis the look in his eye had struck in her. "Does it look like I have fear in my eyes?" she asked, watching as the black in his eyes slowly faded away. She watched as his demonic prowl lost its intimidation and she saw his eyes soften. "I won't ever do something that isn't in your best interests," she started to speak as he suddenly backed away from her, leaving a considerable gap between them. "I knew you would be against it, which is why I didn't tell you. But you are out, yes? You've been pardoned. You. Are leading. This war," she emphasized. "If you want your redemption, then take it. Go and speak to your father; has he not allowed you to help form an army to fight against whatever may be out to destroy the nine realms as we know it? I am sorry I went behind your back, but I am not sorry for what I have done. You wanted power, now you've got it. Don't go and screw this up."

He studied her as she stepped away from the wall, her eyes locked with his. If what she was saying was truth, that his parents had let him free so he could strategize and fight this war on his own, then why the hell was he yelling at her for? His anger melted away slowly.

"Sylvie has also disappeared; and you're the only one who has so far been able to control my demonic stage, so I desperately need you to help me beat this before I kill anyone else in a blind rage," she spoke softly, pushing past him and walking to the edge of her bed. She sat down and ran her fingers through her hair.

_I desperately need you._ The phrase struck a chord in him which made him completely forget what they had been arguing about. So Sylvie was gone; it was completely up to him now to save her from the soul-consuming power he had given her.

"Look, I'm exhausted, I haven't been able to stomach much food at all lately, and I haven't gotten much sleep either. Can we continue this in the morning?" she asked, a hint of weariness conveying through her tone.

Loki looked down to the floor before turning to face her and flitting his eyes up to meet hers. "Of course," he said quietly. He held her gaze as if she was expecting him to do something. "I'm not leaving, if that is what you are waiting for," he mused, walking over to her swiftly.

"Loki, I'm tired. I'm not in the mood for games," she exhaled loudly as she tossed herself onto the bed, her head landing face first on the pillows she had lying at the head of the bed.

"Nor am I," he shrugged off her comment. "You remember what you so audaciously overheard between Thor and I when we first returned from Midgard a fortnight ago, yes?"

She nodded without looking up from where her face was smothered in the pillow.

"I have just given you a reason to walk out on me."

"I'm not going to walk out on you, Loki." She gave an exasperated sigh.

"Then do not make me walk out on you either," he said as he went to the opposite side of her bed and sat down. "Prove to me that I haven't so carelessly destroyed the one thing that could get me through this war with my sanity intact," he said as he rested next to her, his hands folded on his chest. His voice had gotten softer, much tamer than when he had so viciously snapped at her. He shouldn't have jumped on her as he did; he shouldn't have been so quick to judge what she told him. He had snapped so ferociously on her when she truly had helped him. Had it not been for Thor's constant pleading with the Allfather and Orthani's chat with his mother, he would probably still be locked away in a cell at this moment.

Regardless of the fact he was still angry at the fact she had gone to his mother, he regretted the fact he had so maliciously lashed out at the one person who actually cared about him in return.

He waited for her to reply but none came. He figured she was ignoring him, just waiting for him to get up and leave her alone for the night. When she kept the blanket of silence that had surrounded them for longer than he expected her to, he exhaled and sat up, throwing his legs over the side of the mattress.

"So be it then," he muttered. He was about to stand when suddenly all the lights she had scattered about the room extinguished at the same time. He glanced around briefly, trying to get his eyes to adjust to the sudden darkness that engulfed them. "Is this your way of ordering me out, or am I misinterpreting your actions?" he said softly over his shoulder.

He heard her mumble something into the pillow she had face-planted in, but it was incomprehensible to his ears.

"What?"

"Stay." Her voice was stern and definitely snippy.

He pursed his lips into a thin line. _Even if she isn't by chance abandoning me, she surely does not want me here_. "Not with you in such a horrid mood," he said as he stood up from the bed. "Sleep well, Orthani. I shall see you when morning rises, yes?" he said as he opened the door to her chambers.

He heard her make a strange noise that was muffled by the pillow that covered her face. He furrowed his brow in curiosity before coming up with a plan. He silently backed away from the open door into the darkest shadows of her room before using the sleight of hand to close the open door.

Orthani looked up from where she had so ungracefully collapsed into her pillow on her bed, glancing at the door to her quarters. He had actually left.

She growled loudly, reached for the dagger placed on the bedside table, and threw it across the room to the mirror near the door. It shattered loudly on impact, but the dagger miraculously stayed where it had struck, protruding from the now broken glass instead of rebounding off of it. She growled and turned over on her side, keeping her back towards the door. Her tears had long since subsided, but her eyes still stung from the aftermath.

_Why does everything always have to go so terribly wrong,_ she thought as she squeezed her eyes shut and huffed loudly. She curled her legs up to her chest and heaved a sigh, hugging her sides together for her own comfort. Had she really made him that angry just by going to have a one-on-one talk with Frigga?

_Of course not, it's the fact that I left him to go and talk with her. He had gone down to his cage and I wasn't there for him. Instead I went to talk to his parents whom he spited to the core. Must he be so complicated?_

She suddenly felt the bed depress and an arm snaked around her middle, pulling her towards whoever had just lain themselves down with her. She gave a startled jump and her eyes snapped open in a brief moment of alarm.

"You honestly believe I would have left you after such an argument," Loki's cold yet soothing voice suddenly hummed in her ear as he pulled himself to rest right up against her back in one swift move. She could feel both the warmth of his skin as well as the cool leather against her bare lower back. She propped herself up on one arm and looked over her shoulder at him. He had ditched the armor; all of it. He had removed the gaudy protection from his leather coat and removed the heavy leather and metal breastplate, leaving him in just his leather coat, leather trousers, bare feet, and bare chest.

Her breath hitched in her throat. "Possibly," she managed to croak out. "You're somewhat unpredictable," she spoke after she cleared her throat. She tossed herself back down on the bed, not even daring to face him at this point.

He had managed to sneak an arm under her when she was propped up so that when she did lie back down, he was able to wrap his arms tightly around her, pulling her firmly up against his torso. She felt his hands splay across her exposed stomach and she was barely able to suppress the shiver that would have crawled up her spine. She felt his nose nuzzle into the back of her neck gently and she knew instantly that it would be impossible for her to remain angry at him for much longer.

They remained in silence, neither daring to speak until the other did. Loki drew patterns aimlessly on her exposed stomach, his fingers barely grazing over the skin and leaving goose bumps on the surface in their wake. To her, every time the tips of his fingers would slither over a more sensitive area of her midriff it would send her heart racing into a frenzy at even the slightest touch. It was taking every bit of her self-control to not melt in his enchanting arms.

When he heard a soft sigh escape her lips, he dared to speak the first words.

"Is it too late for me to ask for your forgiveness," he breathed against her neck, sending a shiver down her spine that she couldn't hide this time.

"What makes you think you haven't already been given it?" she muttered back, her eyes fluttering open.

"You have yet to do anything but turn your back to me," he muttered, ceasing the swirling of his fingers against her satin smooth skin. He waited for her to say something or do something…anything. He smirked when she twisted in his arms to face him, he for once at eye level with her and not looking down upon her. Her arms hung loosely around his neck as she settled against him, and his hands naturally fell to the shallow dip of her spine in her lower back.

"Am I forgiven for my ah…rash-"

"Rude," Orthani corrected him.

"Malevolent?"

"That works even better," she nodded.

He exhaled a light scoff. "Am I reprieved from my actions? Or are you going to bore me with speeches of how I should act should this happen upon us again," he droned slightly, hooking one of her ankles with his foot and pulling her closer to him, entangling her legs with his.

"Does it look like I'm the kind of person who would lecture you?" she chuckled, gently running her fingers through his hair.

He felt her nails gently graze his scalp as she ran her fingers through his raven locks and he let out an audible growl from the back of his throat. He wasn't much of a touchy person, but gods would he love to discover how it felt to have her clawing at his back in the near future. He used his knuckles to swiftly bring her lips to his, feeling her body tense in his arms before melting into relaxation as his lips moved against hers gently. Hers were always soft and welcoming to him, something that made him completely at ease with her and simply drug him down deeper into her spell every time they managed to get their lips to collide with each other.

He felt her nip at his bottom lip and her tongue quickly flitted over where her teeth had playfully bit, almost as if she was daring him to delve himself deeper in her kiss. She brought herself to close what little space they had left between them, pressing her body into his as she was not begging, but daring him to take it further; plunge her deeper into this intoxicating and addicting connection she could never get enough of.

He smirked as he tilted her chin enough to gain his access, his tongue slipping through her parted lips and teasing hers with a quick, fleeting swipe that barely made contact with her tongue. He felt her nails bite the nape of his neck and a noise growled deep in his throat.

"Are you trying to prevent me from getting any sleep tonight?" she spoke in a hushed tone in between those brief moments when he didn't have his silver tongue swirling with hers with such a passionate heat that it made her head spin as she lost herself in him.

He broke away for a moment. "After having told me you had yet to get rest since you returned from your relapse into chaos, hardly," he muttered. "I surprisingly have no intentions of taking this any further; I am doing this simply because it is fun," he allowed a smirk to curl on his lips before delving back to resume what he had started. He was quickly cut off when she threw her head back and laughed.

Loki studied her reaction with a faint grin curled on his lips. Her laugh was contagious to him and it took everything in him to not laugh along with her.

"Of course. I shouldn't have expected any less from you," she said sarcastically as her laughing subsided.

His emerald eyes locked with her jade ones in a moment of silence before he uncurled his left arm from around her and used it to prop himself up so that he was leaning over her. His other hand went to rest on the curve of her side as he leaned over to brush his lips over the pulse on her neck. After hearing her breath audibly hitch in her throat, he pressed them against her skin more firmly and felt the flutter her heart made from his gentle kiss directly under his lips. "Rest now, my love," he whispered in her ear in such a way that was oddly soothing to her. "I shall be here when dawn breaks over the horizon if you so wish me to be."

"Please do," she whispered back as she nuzzled into his neck, making a smile flash quickly across his lips before it vanished almost as quickly as it appeared. She curled up against his chest and exhaled, her eyes slowly closing when the tiredness hit her suddenly. He held her close, almost as if she would disappear in his arms if he didn't do otherwise.

"Sleep well," he breathed as she settled in his arms. He waited until he could feel her breathing even out into slow, deep inhales and exhales before he dared to whisper his next few words. "I am deeply sorry I ever doubted you."

He rested his chin on the top of her head and finally closed his eyes so that sleep would consume him. It had been ages since he had slept well due to his time behind bars. He let Orthani's steady breathing slowly lull him into a deep slumber.

* * *

**A/N:** So hopefully this made up for the wait of this chapter. I'll try and get a bunch of stuff written with this new schedule so that I can go back to posting daily as the story progresses, but this is really far from over. Thank you all for sticking with me, even with the change of posting, but I promise it will be worth it. I'm trying to make this as top quality as possible and make it more than just a story. So! Hopefully you enjoyed this; the next post will be out on Wednesday at 10 AM Central, for those who care.

**Guest: **Loki? Is that you? x) Sorry, I forgot to edit that last chapter to say when I was going to post again, my bad. Dx

**Asmos: **Ahhaha, really? Monkeys spinning plates while riding a unicorn on steroids. xD That's brilliant, that is. I'll try and write well enough that it actually lives up to that epic description. xD

**OperaGhost18: **Bwahaha. x) Thank you. And Frigga is really bitchin. I love her character, she's such a sweetheart to portray sometimes.

**Cat-Natty: **That comment was you? xD Good to know. And thank you! ;D

Sorry, this update came like...two days after you thought. Sorry. x.x

**TheMagentaColor: **His playful side is adorable. x)

**Pumpernickel: **YES. Oh my god, I would have loved to see that. xD

**Tigger: **You aren't, I don't think I fully explained it ever, so it was a really good question to ask.

**Guest: **xD I love you too! (Not in the creepy way either, though.)

**The Red Dove: **The thing is with Frigga, I don't see her so high and mighty in her royalty that you would ever even consider babbling like an idiot. She, to me, is just as any other person living in the House of Odin; she's really humble, doesn't really make a lot of noise, and kind of sits in the background until she is needed. Then she'll take control and really kick some ass. I mean, besides the fact that she's Queen, I don't think she presents herself as that intimidating that would lead you to stuttering like a fool.

But that might just be me.

**Lime Toaster Cat: **Thank you lovely!

**kittykatiekat5549: **xD Sorry.

**WulfLuver22: **At least, I think she's dead.

I sorta only have as far as maybe 6 or 7 chapters ahead of now in my head or already written. And then I have what should happen in the end sorta planned out. If she makes another appearance, I wouldn't doubt that happening. x.x

**Jenna A. L. Marie: **Thank you!

I had to put the horse race in there. It only seemed appropriate. x)

**LiteralIrony: **Thank you, lovely! =D

OH BY THE WAY! If you're still reading this by now, and since I forgot to put this in here until now, if you're looking for another story to read while you wait for me to update, go and read LiteralIrony's "Damage Control." It's a Bruce/OC story set after the Avengers, and it's really really good. I think some of you are already reading it cause I've checked the reviews, but yeah. GO AND READ AND REVIEW AND FOLLOW AND EVERYTHING because she's my best friend in the whole wide world irl (kinda weird, I know. I let a friend I know in real life read my fanfiction, but that's how much I love her.) She did a promo for my story and I didn't realize it until now, so here's my promo for her. GO DO IT!


	10. Princes and Pariahs

Orthani paced the common room floor nervously, hugging her arms across her chest as her heels softly clicked against the floor. It had been a month since Loki had been granted a pardon from the Allfather, which was made possible by a last attempt plea from Frigga just after she had pulled Orthani from the dinner table.

Since is graciously allowed freedom, he had not only taught her a handful of new magic tricks in Sylvie's absence, but also how to partly control her manic mistress persona; in turn, it enabled her to actually slip into that mindset partially whenever in battle or whenever else she needed it, though only if she kept herself in check and didn't let the power consume her. She had gotten the hang of Loki's signature ice spikes and throwing knives as well as switching her attire via magic, and had barely grasped the concept of a body double only enough to get her by. Using the double to transport herself to a different area was still way over her head, however. Loki was only able to teach her so much when it came to fire, but due to her natural talent of fire sorcery, she was able to teach herself whatever pertained to it anyways without much help from him.

Loki, during his release, had spent most of his time either in the library or hidden away elsewhere when he wasn't out in the courtyard teaching Orthani new tricks and spells. He wasn't reinstated as Prince when he was pardoned simply because his father believed he would have to work to be given the honor of sitting on such a title again. He would have to prove that he truly was fighting for the universe's sake and that he wasn't pulling any amount of trickery or deceit over their eyes. That meant he couldn't sit at Odin's side, he had no such input in anything anymore as he once did, nor did anyone care for his word. He was just as much of an outcast as before.

And when Odin said he would have to earn back his title, he meant it very seriously. The first dinner Loki attended, his seat beside his mother had actually been removed and he was left to sit on the other side of the table; that was the first instance he had been kicked to the common folk curb. He had walked out after leading Orthani to her seat, but not after showing his distain by giving her a ferociously passionate kiss just to upset the normal harmonious balance in the room. That dinner was a rather quiet one, and it ended when Orthani quietly excused herself early to head to bed. To Loki's amusement, he slept alone in his enormous princely chambers that night instead of having her tucked under his arm in his bed as she had done (mostly) every night since his release.

Then he discovered his beautifully plated gold helm with those beautifully crafted long horns had been taken from him by his father, signifying he had truly been stripped of his rank. Though Loki really wanted nothing to do with Asgard or the fight after such a bold move from his father, he knew there was a lot more at stake if he didn't step up to the role of power the Allfather had given him. Had he not, he would have much bigger issues knocking at his door.

He was normally quiet and very much reserved in his planning of his next move. Every so often, he would join Sif, her warriors, Thor and Orthani in an off the cuff hunt, which was more for fun than for any other purpose, but that was mostly it when it came to getting out of the castle. For what else was there to do? The bifrost was slowly being repaired, but it had another month to go before it would be usable again. Without that, they couldn't do much in their own realm.

Then, on this day that Orthani was pacing the floor of the common room so nervously, something changed. Odin had called Thor into his court and sent a guard to Loki's quarters, drawing him away as well. No one had yet heard any word on the two for hours. Fandral and Volstagg had been sitting in the common room with her as well, for they were normally a tad friendlier to her when Sif and Hogun weren't around. It wasn't for any other reason than because she was actually tamer around them than the others, not as snippy as she would be with Sif. They felt they had to give her some sort of olive branch of truce since they felt she treated them less harshly.

Ah, the drama of inter-palace bullying.

"Where the hell are they?" Orthani snapped, making another 180 turn to pace back and forth across the golden floors, the trail of her bottle green satin skirt following at her ankles. She had a thing for those bare midriff, bare shoulder dresses. They seemed to breathe more than her armor did and since Loki had taught her that quick trick to have her armor materialize on her body in a few seconds, she felt no need to walk around in the thick leather and metal all the time.

"I don't know," Fandral answered her softly, leaning forward in the couch he was sitting in. "Lady Sif has disappeared as well. We can only guess that it is a more royal matter," he explained as he watched Volstagg stuff his face with another plate of food he had stolen from the cook.

All of them were dressed down; armor off and only the clothes they wore underneath them. They were in the common room after all, where it was built and furbished for those to relax without all the heavy gear weighing down one's shoulders. This was the only place in the castle, besides their own quarters, where they were able to rid themselves of their excess skins and still be able to socialize with the other 'elite warriors and fighters' they stood beside in battle. Really, that was only the golden seven: Thor, Sif, Fandral, Volstagg, Hogun, Orthani, and Loki.

"Well that was nice of them to inform us," she growled sarcastically, making another lap behind the back of the couch Fandral was occupying.

"The Allfather always has his reasons!" Volstagg said through a mouthful of food as Hogun opened the large shining doors to the common room and walked in to join them.

"One of the guards said that Sif is on her way," he spoke to the group in that familiar Chinese sounding dialect. "He said to get your armor on. We have an assignment from the Allfather," he continued, eying the group one by one as he spoke.

Fandral exhaled loudly. "Well I see we have your answer, Lady Mynx," he exasperated as he picked himself off the couch to go and retrieve his armor from a room in the back. He heard a growl as he walked across the room. "Come now, shall you join us?" He threw his armor over one arm and walked back into the common room to gear up.

He heard a scoff. "Definitely, because Sif always loves it when the two sorcerers of the castle join her and her troops," Orthani retorted sarcastically.

Fandral chuckled, throwing on his breastplate and snapping it all together securely over his chest as Volstagg stumbled past him to get his armor as well. "Oh don't be such a riffraff. Sif dislikes anyone woman who can do the similar job she carries out." he jested in good spirits. "You have yet to step outside the palace in the past two weeks; why not join us and see a little sunlight?" he said just as the golden doors reopened. Sif had just arrived.

"The Allfather wants us to handle a rampant hoard of bilgesnipe a couple leagues away from outlying of the city," she said swiftly, not even bothering to walk entirely into the room.

"Bilgesnipe?" Orthani stopped her pacing to repeat what Sif had just said.

Sif gave her a rather annoyed nod. "Yes, bilgesnipe. Have you not yet seen one?" she snipped slightly at Orthani's curiosity.

"No," Orthani snapped back in a mocking way.

"Why are we going to kill a bilgesnipe? The grand Wild Hunt's opening celebration is to begin in less than a week's time and shortly after that, Yuletide as well," Volstagg said as he secured his shoulder plates to his armor. "Can we not let the hunters dispose of them then?"

"They are getting dangerously close to the city. Odin does not want them close to our borders this close to the winter solstice," Sif answered as her men hurried to prepare themselves for battle. "Orthani, shall you join us?" she asked in a less than amused tone as if she had been told to do so by someone higher up in ranks than herself.

Orthani looked to Sif and then looked over to Fandral, who had already managed to put on all of his armor. He gave her a short nod, and then she turned back to face Sif.

"Of course," she said as respectfully as she could muster up as her body was cast in an odd golden hue of light, her Asgardian armor appearing on her body to replace the lightweight casual clothes she had on before. Her back visually straightened as the leather and metal plated corset constricted her ribs, and the sorcerer's leather coat covered her once bare shoulders and arms. Her daggers appeared in the sheathes fastened behind her back as well as tucked just inside her leather high heeled boots that stretched up to her calf. The leather flaps that served as leg protection were attached to the corset she had on; which in turn made it look slightly like a dress, but it was a suitable hybrid of both warrior armor to protect from weaponry combat and a sorcerer's getup used to protect them from any sort of magicka damage. Loki once teased her that she looked incredibly similar to him had it not been for the silver plating and the black and deep purple color scheme to the threads; and well…cleavage.

The golden glow faded and she stood in her gear before them. "I wouldn't miss it for the world," she said, moving to tie her hair up in the famous half up, half down style she had while employed as an assassin at S.H.I.E.L.D to keep all of her hair but her side bangs out of her face.

"Let's get a move on, then," Sif nodded her head to the side as she turned to head towards the front gates of the palace, her warriors and Orthani following hot on her heels. They immediately headed out the front gates where their horses were already waiting for them. Orthani was using Sdvari until the breeder managed to raise and trail one of the foals specifically for her so that she wouldn't have to keep borrowing Loki's overly stubborn black stallion that always fought against her. For now, however, Sdvari's headstrong antics were all she could deal with.

She watched as a guard struggled to hold Sdvari under control as he skirted on point from not seeing his regular rider approaching him. It was like he knew he would have to deal with that stranger that was forcing him around before Loki returned when he saw Orthani walking down the path towards him.

"If you don't listen to me today, I'll go get a switch," she said as she quickly mounted the horse's back with one smooth movement. Sdvari immediately settled down. _At least the horse knew when to behave_ she thought to herself as Sif and her warriors also mounted their steeds. Sif took off towards where they needed to be headed and the four followed her, the sound of thundering hooves echoing where they tread.

Up in the tower overlooking the main courtyard where the defenders of the palace had gathered to saddle up stood the king and his sons. Odin clutched his staff in his right hand, and his helm was over his head. Thor stood to his right, he also wearing his helmet with the silver feathers as his signature symbol and grasping Mjolnir in his right hand. Loki stood to his Odin's left, clutching his precious scepter in his left hand. His chin was held up as he stood in his full armor, his golden helm with the thick, curved horns on his head once again. He was proud, though his face betrayed him since it didn't even have a trace of a smirk or smile; he was straight faced, remaining completely neutral about the fact he had just been reinstated as a Prince of Asgard. He might have not shown any emotion, but on the inside, his chest was brimming with a narcissistic sense of pride and accomplishment. By the gods did it feel good to wear those horns again.

Loki dropped his chin a smidge when he saw Orthani quickly calm his stubborn horse before they even left the courtyard. That one notion was all he needed to see to know that she was already on edge, and that was without even speaking more than a handful of words to her during the day up until that point. Hell, he had barely spoken four sentences to her when they woke up in his chambers that morning with a guard pounding on his door to retrieve him for Odin. He could only imagine how on edge she was after having a lack of information as to what was happening. Hell, he didn't even know what was happening until he was forced to approach his father at the throne.

"Might we aid them?" he asked in a less than amused voice. He didn't even know what the defenders were running off to do, but he would rather not see Orthani come back half dead due to her already foul attitude allowing her demons to easily get the best of her should she let her guard down.

"You and Thor have work to attend to," Odin replied simply as they watched the group slowly disappear from view. "I vowed to assist in this war in every way I can, but you must take responsibility for your actions and take control over what is to come." Odin waited until the dots on the horizon completely disappeared before turning around and walking back into the palace without another word spoken.

Thor took off his feather helmet off and tucked it under his arm. He turned as well to head inside, but firstly clapped Loki on the shoulder lightly as if he was silently congratulating him even though he knew Loki probably hated what had just happened.

"If Heimdall believes them to be in any danger, I will go after them if they do not return before nightfall," Thor said quietly before he started walking inside after the Allfather.

Loki still watched the horizon intently. He was facing the southern part of town, the part leading in the opposite direction of the bifrost out to the outlands of Asgard. She was heading towards a forest that held some of the most foul creatures that were home to Asgard; ones that could easily take down a man within seconds if he made a wrong move. The sun was reaching high up in the sky, indicating it was midday at last.

This was going to be a very long and torturous day for him. He never liked it when Orthani left his watchful eye; not only because he had grown inescapably and inseparably close to her, but also because he knew she could so easily slip into that destructive side with little or no self-control at all. She had learned to control it to an extent, but if she ever dared to take it too far…

He snapped his eyes shut and shook the thought out of his head. If she turned again, it would only be a matter of time before the clash of destructive power consumed her entirely. He inhaled deeply and opened his eyes. Now began the wait for the warriors return; an agonizingly long, anxious, and torturous wait.

* * *

It took them three hours to get to where they needed to be; three hour at full gallop through a flat, desert-like dust until they hit the tree line of a forest. When they got to the trees, they halted their horses and dismounted. Orthani looked back behind her to see that the highest peak of Asgard was barely visible on the horizon where ground met sky.

These trees were nothing like that which she saw on Earth. Their trunks were large, at least several feet thick towards the ground and meandered into strange contortions before spreading out into a burst of branches, some reaching to extreme heights to the sky and others staying low to the ground. Their bark was white, some peeling back to reveal the deep brown underneath in spots and had thick roots protruding from the ground. Most of the leaves were gone since winter was already fast approaching, leaving a grey, dull and eerie sight before them. A heavy fog seemed to hang in the air, and even had a light cloud cover over the entire stretch of the forest which blocked out the sun from where they stood. It oddly reminded her of a more extreme version of the movie Sleepy Hollow she had watched back in high school.

"Keep your eyes out," Sif broke her sense of awe when she spoke. "These beast are large, but they can sneak up on you fairly easily in this place if you don't watch your back carefully," she said, lowering her voice as she jumped off her horse.

Orthani nodded without even so much as looking at her. She was too drawn to the mystical forest before her. It looked practically dead, and almost looked like it was a living, breathing thing itself. There was no telling what dark, scary creatures lurked about in this bleak forest.

"How many are there?" Hogun asked as he slid off his horse as well.

"I believe ten is all. Four little ones, and the rest? Fully grown adults. Watch where you tread and keep a whether eye out," Sif spoke as Fandral, Volstagg, and Orthani dismounted their horses as well. "Stick together and we will take them down one by one. If we get overwhelmed by them, then we will fall back and regroup. Are we ready?" She took charge of her fleet like a true warrior.

Orthani withdrew her signature silver daggers from their sheaths and twirled them in her palms once, indicating she was more than ready. Fandral unsheathed his sword from his side, Volstagg unhooked his giant battle ax from his back, and Hogun readied his mace in his hands. Sif took out her two sided dueling spear and snapped it open at the ready. "Spread out. We will sweep the forest in a line; walk slowly and don't get too far ahead of the person to your side. Shout when you see something we can use to track them," she murmured before they entered the forest, almost immediately being consumed by fog.

Orthani was at the far left, and Fandral was fifteen feet to her immediate right as they took a formation similar to the Midgardian police line. They kept at fifteen feet intervals between each other, walking very slowly as to not make too much noise. It was like someone put a blanket of cold over the entire forest, enough to where it caused the fighters to be able to see their own breath as they exhaled. The only sound that pierced the thick veil of silence was the cracking of brush under their feet and the inhaling and exhaling of breath. They moved through the trees slowly and at the ready in case something jumped out at them. It wasn't dark really, but the fog surrounded them in a white blanket that they could hardly see past 10 feet in front of them.

She could feel the cold working through her leather and armor and it started nipping at her skin. She didn't know how long they had been walking at that point, but it felt like ages to her. She had no idea just how far this forest stretched for, but it seemed like it would never end.

She suddenly heard a pop; one that was out of place from the rest of the cracks and snaps made by the warriors to her right. She froze in her steps and kept listening, waving her right hand at Fandral to get his attention. He caught sight of the notion and stopped, slightly turning his body towards her in question. He listened as well, but he couldn't pick up what she was hearing. She glanced over her shoulder, jaw hung open slightly from how cold it was. Her breath was shaky as well as if her lungs were shivering as she took in air and expelled it.

Her green eyes scanned the trees behind her quickly before she looked to her left as well, trying to figure out what was possibly stalking her through the woods. She heard a loud roar propelling towards her from behind and she turned quickly on her heels, crossing her wrists out in front of her face so that she could stab whatever was coming towards her in the neck should it pounce.

And pounce it did. She was knocked off her feet when this unknown beast tackled her from behind and she went flying into the trunk of a tree not too far off. She made a hard impact against the trunk before falling to the ground, somehow managing to roughly land on her feet and crouch to the ground at the ready before the animal was able to pin her to the ground.

The animal's shoulders were broad and covered with thick scales that hid its muscle underneath. Its body was built similar to that of a giant cat, except had giant antlers protruding out of its head and it walked on all fours like a saber tooth tiger. It had rows of razor sharp fangs in its jaw, and Orthani immediately knew it could probably rip her apart easily if it wanted to. Its claws were dangerously sharped and hooked so that it could easily tear flesh from bone with its bare claws. A single swipe to the right place could probably kill someone instantly. It was twice the size of a Midgardian lion, and four times more ferocious and deadly it seemed.

Orthani didn't even try to challenge it. She parkoured up the tree to a branch high out of the beast's grasps before it decided to charge her again.

She took in a deep breath to try and calm herself down from the sudden scare only to open her eyes and see the beast readying itself to leap up at her. She quickly threw her daggers hilt first into the ground below her before she vaulted up to a higher branch just as it jumped; she grabbed the branch with both hands, swiftly hooked both her legs around it, and then carried her momentum from the jump to swing herself off, complete a flip in midair, and then land crouched low on the ground without much noise with her back now towards the bilgesnipe attempting to hunt her. She twisted her body as she flung her left arm around, releasing a number of ice spikes towards the beast that was now clawing at the tree trunk to get traction. The spikes hit the bowing branch underneath its paws and it snapped, sending the animal towards the ground. Its back landed on her two daggers she had sticking from the ground blades up, and it let out a roar in pain.

She smirked, thinking it was over. It rolled over back onto its feet and pawed at the ground before lunging at her again.

"A little help here would be nice!" she yelled out to Sif and her warriors as she also ran towards the beast that was running towards her. When it leapt off the ground, she suddenly collapsed one of her knees so that she was slid on the ground as the animal flew right over her. She twisted so that she could send a white hot fiery blast from her outstretched hand as it landed on the ground and then dug her fingers into the dirt to stop her slide.

Fandral scurried to her aid, but not before the snipe made an agile turn back and swiped at her with its giant claws before she could so much as blink. She was thrown into another trunk of a tree, the air getting knocked out of her when she collided against it with her side and then crumpling to the ground. The tree's trunk actually caved underneath the hit, bowing in where she had crashed into it at a frightening speed. Some of it splintered out, but the tree itself didn't give.

"Distract it!" she heard Sif yell as Hogun and Volstagg rushed to swarm the beast just as Fandral got launched backwards by a nicely executed kick from the bilgesnipe's hind leg. He hit the ground and rolled a few feet before coming to a stop, groaning from the hit.

Orthani got to her knees and held herself up off the ground with one arm while clutching her side where the beast not only had gotten her through her gear, but had also crushed into the tree side as well. She watched as Sif leaped into a tree and then waited for Volstagg to lure it underneath her, where she then jumped off and plunged her spear straight through the beast's thick scales and into its skull. It pierced all the way through and hit the ground with the sickening sound of metal scraping against bone and slicing through toughened skin.

The beast was still.

Orthani tried to breathe heavily through an open mouth, her jaw hung open as her lungs screamed at her both from a temporary paralysis and from the lack of oxygen. As her lungs slowly let in air in spurts at a time, she felt something trickle down her cheek. She folded her legs underneath her and took the arm that was once propping her up off the ground and wiped her cheek with the back of her hand. Blood smeared across her face and her hand when she did so and she looked at it briefly before forcing herself to stand on her feet.

When she stood, she got her constricted lungs under control as she closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. She heard footsteps approaching her as she leaned back against the trunk of the tree, continuing to breathe deeply so that she could fight the pain from her fresh injuries.

She had to slip into her partial demonic state she had once used to slay an entire flock of guards in her first visit to Asgard. Partially; just enough to maintain total control of herself as Loki had so ingeniously unlocked for her. She continued her deep inhales and exhales, blocking herself out from the world for a mere few seconds as she tapped into that source of power she had been given.

"Are you hurt severely?" Sif asked her as she put a hand on Orthani's shoulder.

"'m fine," she croaked out as she opened her eyes. Sif immediately withdrew her hand and scuffled backwards, holding out her spear as if Orthani was going to attack her. Her eyes were glowing; not as pronounced as when she first arrived, but it was definitely enough to cause Sif to worry.

"Your eyes, Orthani!" she said warningly. "They are glowing; contain yourself!"

"I've got it, I've got it," Orthani said, holding her hands up in surrender. "Give me leverage, now. I cannot keep leaving myself open for such mongrels' powerful attacks or else I shall be leaving here in pieces. I need this as strength," she said weakly, pushing herself gently from her resting place on the tree and wincing slightly as she cleared her throat.

Sif hesitated before reluctantly putting her spear down. "Just be sure to keep yourself in line," she said lowly.

Orthani nodded and pushed past her as she felt the strong and overpowering taste of blood hit her tongue and she swished it around in her mouth before spitting towards the ground. "Next time, can we not wait until blood is drawn to leap into action?" she muttered as she touched her fingers to her lip. The instant hot stinging sensation that shot through her nerves told her she had more than likely busted her lip as well.

_What is it with me and always busting my lip open? _She shook her head and chuckled.

"Sorry," Fandral called out to her. He was sitting on the ground with his legs crossed indian style. "This fog is entirely too thick; I could barely make out you getting attacked by that monster," he huffed, trying to regain his breath. His blond hair was disheveled and had specs of dirt in it from when he had rolled on the ground. He had a friction burn on his cheek as well.

"No apology is necessary, Fandral," she flashed him a very weak smile. She could already feel her entire body ache in protest as she walked over to him and extended an arm to help him off the ground and back onto his feet. "I just neglected to think that these creatures could pack such a powerful hit, my god," she chuckled as he gave a small leap as she pulled him to his feet.

"Why else would they send us out to handle them instead of soldiers?" Hogun brought up a very good point.

"Come on. We must keep moving," Sif told them as they all gathered together. "I know not where the sun lies in the sky at the moment, but should dark fall, our mission becomes nigh impossible," she spoke softly since her voice carried throughout the forest should she speak normally. "That was one of their young. The adults will be much tougher to deal with since they aren't as easily fooled. They are wiser, they are quicker. Don't let your guard down," she lectured her troops. "We will take care of these now. Even if it takes a week, we will hunt down these foul beast and slay every one of them that dared entered a forest out of their boundaries. It is our duty as warriors. We must fulfill them before we return."

Everyone nodded in a silent agreement. Orthani, with her lips still slightly parted and her jaw locked, inhaled the cool air sharply as she met gazes with everyone around her. She could feel blood still slowly seeping from the gash in her right cheek as well as the faint taste of blood on the tip of her tongue. She looked worse off than everyone else, but that was expected. This was her first Bilgesnipe hunt, and hell were they kicking her tail; and that was also considering that the worse had yet to come.

She shook her bangs out of her eyes only to have strands that had come loose from her tie fall around the side of her face. It was so cold now that her once straight and lax black hair was starting to curl again as if it didn't like the frosty temperatures. She felt blood trickle from her cheek down past her jaw, it sliding onto her neck and leaving a trail behind it as they resumed their police line formation. She walked back to where she had driven the hilts of her daggers into the ground and gently tugged on the blades carefully. They were covered in the blood from the bilgesnipe that had landed on them, which almost made her fingers slip and just about sliced the skin of her fingers open. She freed them from the ground's grasp and held them at her sides, her body still aching persistently for her to quit already. She pushed the pain to the back of her mind. She couldn't let it get to her. If she did, she would risk her irritability causing her self-control to snap and make her go off in a rage of destructive and uncontrollable power. Every time she let that happen, she could physically feel herself dying until she broke the spell.

She had to keep herself collected. She pushed the ache away and continued on in their mission. They had one bilgesnipe down. _Only what, nine more to go?_ She thought to herself as she inhaled sharply and spat another pool of blood from her mouth. At least the next time one revealed itself, she would know what to expect and be ready. The Harbinger and Goddess within her were finally working together in harmony for once.

* * *

**A/N: **It's kinda sorta a filler chapter, but it's a cool one. Trust me, after tomorrow things will get really interesting. x)

EDIT: Thank you to the guest that just reviewed who brought that to my attention. I believe it's interchangeable, for some reason when I researched it before, it brought up Hung, though I will go through and change it. I don't know why Google lied to me. v.v BUT I FIXED IT. I guess my brain saw Hogun and just decided "Nope, I don't like that. HE IS NOW HUNG." I apologize. My brain can be a derp sometimes.

**VChrisi: **I never really thought of it that way, but that totally works too!

**xXxDragonxPhoenixXx: **Aw thank you!

**Raxacoricofallapatorian17: **Holy hell, you have one hell of a username. xD I had to stick with the true persona of Loki. You can't let that slide, man; Thor would've gotten his ass chewed out if he had been the one to do it, so unfortunately I had to treat her the same.

Though he can be a sweetheart, given the right moments. x) You just gotta catch him at the right time x.x

**xxyangxx2006: **Aw, thank you so much!

**Guest: **YOU WANT MORE? WELL I'LL GIVE YOU MORE! (Oh my god, where does that come from. I know it's a pop culture reference from somewhere xD)

**Guest: **I think Loki is incapable of having a normal relationship. It has to be complicated and twisted and crazy, otherwise he would completely lose interest in it. He has to have someone who isn't afraid of him, and someone who can sorta snap him back from this villain he has become, otherwise Orthani would just be some other woman who just so happens to know magic. She would be nothing to him and he'd disregard her. There has to be a level of strangeness to it otherwise Loki would overlook her and never really care as if she never really meant anything to him.

Besides, simple relationships are boring to write about anyways. x) These two? They'd probably be at each other's throats ready to kill each other one moment and the next just suddenly start banging each other senseless up against the wall like they never had an argument (Or at least, that's how far ahead I am in writing this story that their relationship has in a way taken on that sort of turn.) I doubt Loki would want it any other way, really. x) You have to be crazy to catch crazy. Orthani's no exception.

Lol, long unnecessary explanation is unnecessary. I'll shut up nao.

**Cat-Natty:** Well hopefully within this week you'll realize just how crazy this story is about to get. I already had a friend of mine beta read it, and she says it's pretty dang awesome, so hopefully you guys will think the same.

**Pumpernickel: **Coffee shops are cool, though. x) It's all good.

**TheMagentaColor: **I have to keep true to the true Loki. =/ He tried to kill his brother when Sif and her Warriors Three tried to bring him back during Thor, so if he thinks someone went behind his back, no matter who they are, he will definitely be pissed at them.

**GoldBee: **They're like an old married couple now a days.

**Guest:** =D Thank you awesomely cool guest!


	11. Ambushes and Invasions

With one final blow, the finishing blow of all of their pain and miseries, Orthani plunged a dagger through the thick skull of the last adult bilgesnipe that had invaded their lands, ending its life instantly as the blade ripped into its brain and caused it to immediately shut down. As she jumped down from the giant beast's head, the beast fell to the ground and shook the earth beneath everyone's feet from the fall.

Orthani rolled to a stop and stood up, breathing heavily from her fight with the beast. Sif had been bucked off before, leaving Orthani to climb back to the animal's head and kill it herself. She stood in a circle with the rest of the warriors, all breathing roughly from both exhaustion and from the injuries that had accumulated up until that point.

Everyone had spilt blood that day. Metal and armor had managed to get clawed at heavily, some of it actually being pierced and ripped through from the tough claws the beasts adorned. Leather was tattered, hair was disheveled, and everyone was covered in a thin layer of sweat, blood and dirt all over.

Sif had a gash in her upper arm where her armor failed to cover and somewhere on top of her head she had split the skin open, causing blood to trail down her forehead, over her nose, and then down the corner of her mouth. Fandral had his previous injuries as well as a thick gash on the side of his neck that had yet to stop bleeding and his lip had been split. Dark bruises on his face had already started appearing. Hogun looked the best out of all of them: he managed to get away with a small nick on his left cheek along with some bruises that had yet to surface on his skin. Volstagg's beard was partially caked with dried blood from being clawed in the face by one of the smaller bilgesnipe.

Orthani had gotten slashed across her back and down to her side, leaving the leather partially torn and blood drying on the surface of her overcoat. She had the busted lip, the gash on her upper cheek as well as the multiple other cuts and scratches and gashes she had earned during the fight.

Night had long since fallen, and darkness surrounded them just as thickly as the fog did, leaving them in such an eerie and haunting scene that could make someone go mad if they had been stranded in such a forest. The temperature had dropped even more since the sun had gone down, and it left them all shivering slightly because of the cold. Their limbs had mostly gone numb by now, and their chests were screaming at them in a sharp pain telling, no, begging them to stop.

"We are a mile out from the other side of this forest," Fandral said tiredly. "This forest stretches on forever until we even break the tree line heading back towards the palace. I don't know about the rest of you, but I absolutely do not have the energy to walk such a distance back to our horses," he said, trying to slow his heavy breathing; every time someone exhaled, it was like they were exhaling smoke.

Sif nodded. "Call them then. You're the loudest," she huffed shortly, sitting down on the ground where she stood.

Fandral nodded back and walked a good few steps away from the group before putting two fingers to his lips and letting out a whistle so loud that when it echoed back, it was still just as ear piercing as when he actually whistled.

They all stopped breathing as they listened in. It was faint, but the sound of thundering hooves ever so slowly came to their ears. Since sound carried so well through the forest, they knew their steeds were still quite a ways off, but at least they had heard.

Orthani collapsed on the ground, resting her back against the cold dirt beneath her. She really didn't care about the open gashes running from her upper right shoulder all the way down to her lower rib cage on her left side. She was utterly exhausted among other things. She felt like she could collapse on Loki's heavenly bed and sleep for countless days on end.

She opened her eyes again when she heard a strange humming noise way off in the distance. She sat up slowly, her body once again screaming in protest as she willed them out of their state of relaxation.

"It is somewhat frightening; our only source of light being your eyes is slightly odd," Volstagg stammered while joining Sif and Orthani on the forest floor. Hogun and Fandral soon joined them.

"Sorry," she said, her attention for the strange noise suddenly pulled away from her. She lifted her right arm and curled her fingers slightly around her open palm, causing a small ball of orange flames to swirl in her hand. The flames illuminated the area around them, casting them in a strange yellow-orange glow as she held the orb in the middle of their small circle and then suspended it there on its own. She again heard that distant humming noise, except this time it sounded more like it was whizzing as it came closer to them. "Do you hear that?" she asked the rest of the battered warriors as they sat and caught their breath to regroup.

"All I hear is the ringing in my ears from Fandral's ghastly call," Volstagg answered her, rubbing his ears as if they hurt.

Orthani rolled her eyes behind closed lids before collapsing back to the ground. She had never been this thoroughly exhausted in her life. She rested there as the faint clamoring of hooves grew closer to them. How long they waited, they did not know, but when the horses finally galloped into their temporary camp and skidded to a halt, everyone gave a huge sigh of relief. They jumped on their backs gingerly and then slowly romped back towards the forest edge at a brisk trot.

They didn't get far before a ball of white light suddenly shot over their heads above the treetops while emitting a loud whooshing sound, making them all jump from the sudden event. They halted their convoy of horses.

"What was that?" Orthani yelled in panic as the large white ball of light continued to aimlessly dart over their heads high above them.

"It is nothing from our people, surely," Sif answered back as she watched the thing swirl around in the air.

They watched as it meandered in the dark night sky and then suddenly shot in the direction they had just come from.

"Go! Follow it!" Sif yelled as her troops jumped into action, already doing exactly what she wanted. They all turned their horses around and took off at a full gallop towards where this strange ball of energy was heading towards. They headed at full speed towards the opposite edge of the forest where they needed to be in chase of this foreign object.

Since Sdvari was the fastest steed among them, Orthani went from being in the very back to right up with Sif, both horses straining at the reins as if they could go faster if they weren't restrained. The edge of the trees came up on them fast, and they burst out into the open barren land of the outlands, where the orb suddenly disappeared.

Orthani looked around in confusion, as did Sif. They slowed their horses to a half speed gallop while they studied the blackened land, fast approaching a pitch black wall of darkness just in front of them that even the moon's light couldn't pierce. Orthani turned to look over her shoulder, and when she turned back, the wall had millions of glowing…eyes?

The ground suddenly shook beneath them as she yanked back on the reins, her heart leaping in her throat; Sdvari skidded to a stop and reared back with a loud whinny. Sif had already veered back towards the tree line when she saw the wall erupt in millions of tiny lights and heard the ground audibly grumble all at once, and as Sdvari skirted back to join the rest of the warriors. The dark before them was suddenly illuminated by the moon's natural light as if a blanket of darkness had been lifted off this giant wall of-

Her heart stopped as she looked upon what they had run into on the other side of Asgard's bleakest corners. The aches in her body vanished as fear overtook her. It was too early for this. _No, this can't be happening now. We aren't ready!_

"You Asgardian's are but fools," a low voice croaked so loudly that it hung in the air long after the words had been spoken. The outlines of the clearing they were in suddenly erupted in fire, trapping Orthani, Sif and her Warriors Three with no way out. The army before them was illuminated as well, the soldiers all lined up in a sea of bodies that stretched up the hill and beyond what their eyes could see.

There were at least half a million of them; these vile alien-like creatures that had started to click, screech, howl and snap at them, all waiting for their leader to give them the signal to attack. The Chitauri, under a new leader, had returned.

Suddenly, the creatures started screeching in uproar, the noise deafening to the hunters who were now apparently the hunted. Orthani tugged back on Sdvari's reins, causing the horse to shuffle a few paces back.

This was it. They had no hope; they had no army to help them fight the armada in front of them. They had no way of getting the message back to the palace that the Asgardian borders had been invaded. No one would come and save them; if Heimdall hadn't already seen this army waiting to ambush them and hadn't already gotten someone out to them for any sort of help, then they were alone and at least half a night's ride away from the city to get help. There was no way Odin would be able to scramble his men into action if they did manage to make it back to the city gates; the Chitauri would be right behind them the entire way back and would still leave them sitting and practically welcoming death upon the city.

This was the start and end of the war. This would be the fall of Asgard. Not only would they be killed out in the middle of nowhere by an army so large in size that the numbers were more than just overwhelming for them, but no one would ever know. It was either they led them to the gates and let them kill everyone until they got what they wanted, or they revolt and try and accomplish the impossible. Loki and surely Odin would be snatched from the palace and taken to whatever unknown realm the Chitauri had come from and the Tesseract would be placed in the hands of someone who would destroy the universe the second he had it.

They were done for.

"Who are you!" Sif yelled at the leader, who was floating in a chariot above the legion of outcrying creatures. "You have invaded Asgard's borders without authorized permission. I demand you take your army and leave!" she demanded.

"Silence!" the voice boomed, causing the ground to vibrate under them. Orthani could barely make out what this commander looked like under his tattered cloak and hood. Decaying skin clung to exposed bones, the eyes were simply hollow and black, and his body was simply a skeleton with rotting and decaying flesh clinging to his bones in certain spots. His legs were nonexistent and it was like he was floating in midair above the hovering chariot, and his torn and tattered robes and cloak rustled where his feet should have been.

Orthani's jaw hung open and her eyes darted over this army in absolute terror. The war had begun, and they had just been lead blindly into the first trap. They would die first; a group of Odin's strongest and most prized fighters would be the first casualties in this war. Sdvari shuffled underneath her, definitely as terrified as she was.

"I am Brohcca," the booming voice echoed over the large clearing in such a deep and throaty voice that his words still rang out over them long after he spoke them.

"What do you want from u-"

"You will not interrupt me when I speak to you!" This reaper suddenly shot out a blue charge of pure energy from his dead, boney fingers and aimed it towards Sif; it exploded at her horse's hooves, causing it to rear up in fear. Sif was bucked from her ride.

Orthani had to suppress the fearful whimper in her throat as this…thing terrorized them. There wasn't much that she feared in this new day and age; this however terrified her. It was like she was staring at the grim reaper floating above them over an armada of Chitauri; ones that were more rogue, vile, and destructive. They had claws that could gauge out eyes, their fangs were sharp enough to snap through bone with ease, their armor was heavier as were their weapons. Not only did they have guns, but they had giant scepters and scythes that could decapitate someone with ease; and they were all growling and snapping their teeth at them, twitching their bodies as if they were itching to be released and destroy everything they could get their hands on. They had morphed, adapted to a more destructive and vicious breed of Chitauri.

She couldn't breathe. Fear had rendered her frozen in place as she watched this leader before her eyes. She wanted to close her eyes, she wanted to suddenly feel a kick shake her entire body and wake up from this nightmare she was in. She didn't want to be a part of this anymore; she wanted to be back in Asgard at Loki's side, nestled safely in his powerful arms. She wasn't ready to fight yet; she hadn't even recovered from the bilgesnipe almost tearing her limb from limb yet. She felt absolutely helpless for the first time since she had been pulled out of a collapsing building by Agent Coulson when she first entered into S.H.I.E.L.D.

She snapped her eyes shut and shook her head, thinking maybe she was dreaming. There was no way they wouldn't have known about an army camping out at the borders of Asgard. Its sheer numbers couldn't have been overlooked by the watchful eyes of their gatekeeper. It was absurd, impossible, preposterous, and outright outrageous. She cracked an eye open after she had tried to convince herself that this wasn't reality only to find that she was still there, sitting on the back of Loki's frightened horse and staring at an enormous legion of Chitauri that were clawing the ground in anticipation and snapping their jaws at them.

"You have something that belongs to us," Brohcca simply muttered, drawing out each word in his bass voice that still thundered through the open valley. "And a traitor," he hissed, his voice piercing through the air instead of lowly rumbling along. "One whose punishment has yet to be fulfilled."

"You can't have him!" Orthani screeched before she could restrain herself. As soon as the words left her mouth, she clapped her hand over her lips.

Brohcca let out a bellowing laughter. "You have no choice," he said smoothly. "Give up the Tesseract. Give up the traitor and no blood but your own has to be spilt."

She couldn't just stand by and let this happen. She didn't want to die tonight after coming this far in Loki's defense. While of course, staying put and fending off as many soldiers as they could, that would be an honorable warrior's death, there would be no honor if no one knew what they tried to do. She couldn't let this Brohcca slay her and then storm into Asgard without raising some sort of alarm. She refused to let Loki, Thor, Odin, Frigga, and the citizens of Asgard idly sit and wait for their death to barge through the doors without knowing it was coming to them. If she was going to die, she was going to at least try and save at least _one_ life.

"Go on. Lead us to your city walls and let us take what is rightfully ours!" Brohcca shouted loudly at the silence the Asgardians were giving him.

Orthani had concocted a plan; whether or not it would work, she knew not, but it was a plan nonetheless. She had to warn the others. While Sif, Volstagg, Fandral and Hogun had practically given in to their fates and accepted their death, she wasn't going to do so that easily.

"What do we do?" Sif hissed at her as she climbed back onto her horse.

"Listen to me," Orthani hissed behind the hand covering her mouth just loud enough for Sif and her warriors to hear her. "When he releases his army, turn around and run. For. Your. Life," she mumbled without even really turning to look at them. "I'll send a signal flare up in the sky to try and see if someone notices, but we can't let them destroy Asgard. Lead them to the open lands where someone is bound to see them, and we'll turn around and fight until our last breaths-"

"Stop playing games you foolish gods! You have no legion standing by your side, you have no way of escape. Give us the Tesseract and the God, and we shall leave," he tried to make an enticing offer. "Refuse and Asgard will be the first realm to fall to the reign of Thanos."

Orthani dropped her hand from her mouth and looked up at this decaying creature, her muscles trembling in fear at what she was about to do. "How about neither!" she gruffly shouted as she charged and then released a coiling hot ball of black flames towards the General's hovercraft. She heard the sound of a fleet of flying chariots being brought to life and she saw a number of them rise up from the back of his army.

There was no turning back now.

"Then you will see to the destruction of your city in the sky!" Brohcca shouted before extending his scepter out in front of him. His Chitauri charged, bolting towards them and finally releasing the aggression they had boiling in their veins.

Orthani yanked on Sdvari's reins and the horse spun to its left and took off. "Run!" she yelled to the others as they hurriedly followed her lead.

She curled her fingers on her right hand slightly as the firmly gripped Sdvari's reins in her other as she charged another surge of energy at the palm of her hand. Just before they reached the forest tree line, she released a pulsating black orb from her curled fingertips, and it rocketed at light speed overhead as it climbed high in the sky. It quickly sped towards the desert stretch in between the city of Asgard and the Forest of Souls, where it hung high in the sky over the very center and erupted into a large writhing ball of flames that pulsated red and then white at a steady interval.

She was swallowed by the forest trees as she and the others sped towards Asgard. She hoped and prayed someone would get the message out. Maybe Heimdall could look upon them and realize that another enemy had slipped his gaze and was now barreling towards the city in chase of her and the warriors who followed her. Maybe someone would answer their desperate cries for reinforcements. They could win this with an army of their own, but if they actually had time to pull them into battle at such an expectant time would be a miracle.

The Chitauri were biting at their heels as they sprinted through the forest, they snarling and growling such horrible noises in such a large number that it was enough to haunt them no matter how far ahead they pulled in front of this army bounding after them. Those on the chariots dipped into the trees and started whizzing about them, shooting down trees in their path and even shooting directly at the fleeing fighters at times, causing them to have to dodge out of the way, leap over fallen trees and shalom through in between trunks standing in their way.

Orthani's heart pounded in her chest wildly as adrenalin coursed through her veins. She let Sdvari do what he wanted, knowing that the horse was smart enough to not get them killed. As the five galloped through the trees, they ended up splitting into separate directions and staying as far apart as they could manage, trying to thin the army as much as possible between the five; but that had no actual effect on the snarling and ferocious Chitauri following fairly close behind them. Their numbers were far too much. At times, she would hear one of the hovercrafts crash into a tree or get hitched by a root close to the ground, but that didn't make it any better. They still had a hoard of Chitauri that hit enormous numbers.

This was practically a suicide mission. Even if they did make it out, there was no telling just how fast they would be hunted down out in an open field that stretched on for miles and miles before they even reached the outskirts of civilization. Orthani was just trying to get them out in the open; maybe if one of the guards saw them running towards the gates with an entire army after them they would alert someone. She wasn't going to lead them right into the city, oh no; just out to the middle of that open stretch of land, where she, Sif, Volstagg, Hogun, and Fandral would fight until the life was taken from them.

It was suicide, but it would stall the other side from getting what they so wished to find even for a few minutes longer.

And so they galloped on, for their lives so greatly depended on it.

* * *

Loki paced the upper floor balcony in his nervousness. He had yet to hear any word on the small band of fighters and their safety, which only made him even more irate than the already was earlier that morning. It had been hours since Sif and her fleet, along with his love had rushed off to the Forest of Souls to rid a hoard of rampant Bilgesnipe from their grounds and they had yet to ride triumphantly back. Night had fallen and there was still no sign of them whatsoever on the barren lands lying just outside the golden gates. The air was stagnant and quiet, and the horizon remained unmoving.

He let out an audible snarl as Thor opened the doors to the balcony to approach him. He wanted nothing to do with his brother at the moment, for he still had yet to go after them to assure their safe return and he refused to because Heimdall claimed they were in no danger whatsoever. Something was definitely not right, and he could feel it; yet again, no one dared to pay attention to him and what he so claimed. Something wasn't right, and it was only making him angrier that no one was doing anything about it. He furiously paced the floor, his hands clutched tightly behind his back and an irritated sneer curled on his face.

"I take it that means there is not yet been a sighting of them," Thor spoke at Loki's overly alarmed state.

Loki was getting snippy with his words and his mood had gone so low that he had nail marks in the hilt of his hand where his fingernails had dug into his skin from clenching his hands so tightly. "I am not in the mood for your lighthearted antics, Thor," he spat as he turned to pace in the opposite direction.

"They will be fine, Loki-"

"They should have returned by now, you dimwit!" Loki snapped, spitting in his brother's face and then walking away from him with his back turned. "Can you not see that something isn't right; there is something that isn't making any sense-"

"Heimdall says they are fine! Last he gazed upon them, they were waiting for their horses. You must remain calm, brother," Thor attempted to calm Loki down.

Loki swirled around and glided up to Thor so quick he was almost a blur. He turned his back on the open lands of Asgard. "Do not tell me to remain _calm_," he spat in a threatening tone. "Every instance before when she was involved with such dangerous missions, she has wound up dead, captive, or on the verge of losing her mind. I have yet to see her return without getting into such trouble. You honestly expect to remain calm when they are long since overdue to return?"

Thor's eyes darted over Loki's shoulder to look at the sky behind them and his brow furrowed at what caught his gaze. He pushed Loki aside and walked towards the railing of the balcony and watched as something flew through the sky off in the distance.

Loki stumbled back from the less than gentle shove and growled. "As what I thought," he snarled and rolled his eyes. "You look at me as a fool for worrying over the safety of a once mortal woman that has acquired something that can potentially destroy her; yet the moment you discovered I had taken that doctor to do my biddings back at Earth, you rush to S.H.I.E.L.D to ensure her safety. How hypocritical." His eyes caught the exact thing Thor was looking at and his growl died in his throat as he watched the object reach the middle of that desert field before exploding in a bright white light. Instead of fading away, it slowly started pulsating in midair, its color alternating between a swirling bright red and a writhing blinding white.

"What is that?" Thor muttered as he stared at the glowing orb of fire and energy flicker in the sky. "What does that mean?" He turned to Loki with a concerned expression written in the lines of his face.

Loki stared at the thing glowing in the sky. He shrugged, somewhat baffled at why such a signal would be given. He opened his mouth to say something, but then quickly shut it when he couldn't get his thoughts together.

The golden doors behind them suddenly made a noise as they were forced open. Loki swirled around to see Heimdall and Odin briskly walking through the doors.

"Our borders have been compromised," Odin said darkly as he walked towards the center of the room with Heimdall slightly behind him.

"What?" Loki sneered in shock. "What do you mean, our borders have been compromised?" His lip curled.

"There is a darkness heading towards out gates," Heimdall said, his stony face showing no hint of any expression whatsoever. "A large darkness; one that escaped my gazes until they revealed themselves unto Sif and her followers."

"Make haste, Heimdall," Loki hissed. "Get to the point you are trying to bring across."

"We are at war," Heimdall said, still calm as can be. "Sif is leading whatever is escaping my gaze towards us as we speak."

"How did it escape your gaze to begin with?" Thor said alarmingly, walking to stand at Loki's side.

"Loki," Odin said firmly in a quiet voice. "If you have anything to say…"

Loki's gaze snapped to his father before darting over the others in the room. "Are you accusing me of treason?" He clenched his jaw as he glared at the Allfather.

"I have not accused you of anything-"

"Then why must you look to me like I have done something against you?" Loki raised his voice louder with every word he spoke.

"I have given you command over this war-"

"I led an army to war against Midgard; in your mind, you come to the conclusion that I have done the same to you!"

"You think I don't know about your ploy with the Frost Giants and leading them into the city without being seen?" Odin suddenly roared.

"I only did so to protect this realm from Thor's barbaric reign!" Loki yelled, leaning towards his father as he snarled his defense. "Anything I have done with that disgusting excuse of a breed was only for the good of this realm-"

"Leading their leader into my house to slay me while in my sleep is not for the good of this realm and is considered treason-"

"I led him here to slay him!" Loki's shout echoed off the walls. "Leading the chief of an enemy race to his death is to be called treason in your eyes, then might I say I had nothing to do with this apparent new threat bounding towards us and therefore have committed treason against you. I have done nothing against you!"

"You have shrouded enemies from our eyes before; do not deny that!" Odin's roar was even louder than Loki's, making everyone in the room jump. "The way these enemies have been hidden out of our sight until the very day you were reinstated as Prince and reclaimed your throne, and then these enemies show themselves unto Heimdall's gaze and start storming towards our gates; do you realize how condemning that makes you appear?"

Loki drew his head back and closed his mouth, clenching his jaw as he tried to contain his frustration at the words his father spat in his face.

"You cannot deny that you are a mastermind of lies and deception; I should be making an accusation against you, and instead I am letting you explain to us yourself as to what is going on here," Odin said firmly, his voice lowering to its normal level.

"I have done nothing," Loki said after a moment's hesitation, his voice quiet and stern. "I know not what barrels towards us at this very moment; I am as shocked as the next man. If you believe me to be so cruel as to send an entire army on but five souls to see to their death, one of them being the woman who has given me this opportunity of standing before you today, then you are daft."

Odin remained in silence as he studied his son's face. Loki shifted his eyes in alarm as he waited for his father to say something.

"Say something!" Loki yelled through the silence. "Are you going to wait and idly fret as an army comes steadily towards a defenseless city in wait of a declaration from me that I am a traitorous wretch or are you going to sound the alarm?"

Odin remained silent.

"Answer me!" Loki bellowed once again only to have Odin drive his staff into the ground with a loud clang and step back from it. Loki looked at him frantically. "Are you that conceited? Are you that naïve? You are king! Protect your city!" he said as he threw out his arm.

He waited for what seemed like an eternity before he had enough. If there was an army headed to destroy them, he knew it was more than likely the Chitauri and Thanos storming to reclaim what was theirs. He was no outstandingly courageous god, but he definitely wasn't about to give into Thanos to face his infinite punishment of torture and pain for the rest of his life.

His scepter quickly materialized in his hand and he aimed a charge at his father. Before anyone could react, Odin was hit and flew backwards, he landing on the floor on his back and sliding across the slick floor before coming to a stop. Loki swiftly aimed his scepter at Thor and then had one of his throwing daggers appear in his hand as Heimdall jumped into action. He had the blade pressed to his throat, causing Heimdall to stop his attack.

"Do not," Loki growled through gritted teeth. "I am not your enemy." He spoke quietly while his eyes darted between the two Asgardians he had pinned in quick secession. "I refuse to watch Asgard burn while it's King sits idle, too stubborn to rise to command his fleet. Now, it is either you follow my command and obey my orders, or you will stand aside and let me take control and do what I must to ensure that we do not fall today."

Thor gave his brother a hard stare. "How do we know you aren't our enemy after you just attacked our king; our father-"

"If I was against you, then I would be raving on about how we should rise to fight and most likely fall under Thanos' reign, yet proclaim that the fall of one realm is better than the fall of all others simply to play to your sense of honor; instead, I am doing this because I do not see the pleasure and enjoyment of being tortured for the rest of my life. Are you to stand by my side, or will you stand aside?"

Thor hesitated before giving a light nod of his head, which led to Loki lowering his scepter. He watched as his brother turned his attention to Heimdall. "You are sworn to obey me now, or you will stand down. Am I clear?"

Heimdall made eye contact. "Of course."

Loki lowered his dagger and tossed it to the floor at his feet. He reached to his right and took the staff Odin had drilled into the floor and removed it. "Sound the alarm," Loki barked orders, taking complete control over what was happening. "Get every soldier at the ready and out onto that field using this," he said, tossing Heimdall the kingly staff. "Uphold your duties as our gatekeeper. Protect the city and her people. Thor; retrieve that tablet the one called Fury gave to Orthani before we left Midgard a month past. Get in contact with him-"

"You wish to have him assemble the Avengers?" Thor questioned him as Heimdall briskly walked out of the room to attend to Loki's orders.

Loki opened his mouth to say something but them grimaced instead. "I'm not too keen on requesting for their assistance-"

"Why? They can help us, yes?" Thor pointed out.

_I do not want their help._ Loki let out another grimace. "Fine, only if you can concoct a way to get them here without the Tesseract," he agreed, knowing very well that it would be impossible to accomplish since the Bifrost was still a month away from being repaired fully. "Inform Director Fury that we will be sending our King and Queen over to them with the Tesseract," he said while looking over his shoulder at his father. He turned back to Thor. "I might be taking control over this battle, but I refuse to let Asgard fall completely because we underestimated what is heading in our direction. Give them the Tesseract, send them off, and then join me out on the battlefield, yes?"

Thor nodded and rushed off. As soon as Thor had left the large balcony they were standing on, Odin's voice met Loki's ears.

"I am proud of you, son."

Loki turned on his heels to face his father, who was still lying on the ground while holding himself up with one arm. He stared at the Allfather with a fallen expression. It took him a second to process what his ears had picked up, but once he did he forced a grin to play across his lips before shaking his head. He lowered his chin and the grin turned into a sneer.

"I am not your son." Loki turned towards the door and briskly stormed out. "Get yourself to the weapons vault with mother. You will go to Earth and stay there," he ordered as he walked towards the door.

"I do not take orders fro-"

"You gave up your right to ignore me when you so ignorantly stood there like a fool instead of rising to command your army to protect your precious kingdom," Loki spun around at the Allfather's refusal. "Go to Earth and stay there until I give you back your command."

Loki left without another word spoken, leaving Odin lying on the floor. He was slightly shocked; Loki had risen to take control, and while it might've been for selfish reasons, he had done it nonetheless.

He knew one thing; he was not about to go to some other realm while his kingdom was under attack. Oh no, Thor had spoken of the team that had one this war against the Chitauri before would be waiting for him on this other realm.

Whoever they were, he could bring them back. He might've just been stripped of his rank temporarily, but that didn't mean he wasn't still King. This was his war as well, and by the gods would he stand by and watch his men die for him when he wasn't out fighting as well.

* * *

**A/N: **I guess I should put this in here now since the plot just thickened. I own Brohcca; he is of my own imagination and put into the universe simply for my story. He has nothing to do with Marvel lore. I own him. This story will kinda veer away more from what Marvel has already established in its storylines and creating my own sort of realm in which everything makes sense. I'm trying to be original, so don't grill me on comic book accuracy. xP

I again, (for stupid legal purposes only) I own nothing pertaining to Marvel. Sadly. I own Orthani and any character I come up with, however.

And I'm getting behind again. x.x I've been writing these chapters as well as working on the smut-filled chapter to come at the same time, so I'm sloooowly depleting my already written chapters. If I miss a day in the next week or two, I do apologize, but I will try and stick with the schedule and if I can't then I'll just post on one of the skip days to make up for it. Promise.

**kittykatiekat5549: **Because it was over 6,000 words Dx I actually didn't want to split chapter 11 and chapter 12; I wanted to keep it all as one chapter, but it would've been over 13,000 words long and THAT would be ridiculous.

**moonstone6793: **=D Well I'm glad you could follow from there! Thanks so much for sticking with it

**Tom.H: **You...you sir...NOPE. I'M DONE. You have literally just scared the ever living shit out of me. That name: Totally funny and not funny at the same time. xD It makes me question a few things, I've got to be honest with you there.

But thank you. =D Glad you like it and hopefully you don't get bored of it halfway through or something

**Guest: **=D Yeah! Tell your friends I said hi!

**Guest: **Ha, you're about to get a lot more of the fight scenes then. x)

**Cat-Natty: **Sorry D= There wasn't too much Loki in the last one because he wasn't really doing much xP

And yeah, I fixed it! Google actually didn't lie to me, but for some odd reason my mind thought I should rename him in my subconscious. x.x

**Guest: **xD She kinda is, I can't lie. Sif always just rubbed me the wrong way, so I guess it's showing. x.x

**Guest: **Thanks for catching that! It's fixed and it will hopefully never happen again. x.x

She does tend to kick some ass, huh?


	12. Grand Entrance

"_I asked him to be honest with you from the beginning. There should be no secrets in the family," Frigga spoke softly as she sat next to Odin's body. He was still, wrapped in a maroon blanket and lying in the extravagant bedchambers he had whenever he went into his Odinsleep. _

"_So why did he lie?" Loki said flatly to his mother._

"_He kept the truth from you so that you would never feel different," she spoke as her head shook ever so slightly. "You are our son, Loki, and we your family. You must know that." He looked away from her as she finished her statement. He felt betrayed beyond explanation; how could they have hidden his true lineage from him for so long. "You can speak to him," she broke his silence. "He can see and hear us even now."_

"_How long will it last?" Loki didn't wish to speak to him. Not after what he had just discovered._

"_I don't know," Frigga replied in a hushed tone as she reached out and took Odin's hand, her arm breaching through the thin gold membrane surrounding Odin's bed. "This time it's different. We were unprepared."_

"_I never get used to seeing him like this. The most powerful being in the nine realms lying helpless…until his body is restored…"He stared at his father…his adoptive father…almost feeling sorry for him. _

"_He's put it off for so long now I fear…" she trailed off, unable to bring the words to her lips. "You're a good son, Loki. We mustn't loose hope that your father will return to us" she whispered quietly, "…and your brother."_

_Loki's look softened at his mother's final addition to the end of her statement. "What hope is there for Thor?"_

"_There is always a purpose to everything your father does. Thor must find a way home."_

_Loki remained silent for a moment before standing up from his seat without speaking another word. His father was locked in a helpless sleep, his brother was gone, banished from Asgard and there was a threat of a new war with the Jotuns; and there was absolutely nothing he could do about it. _

_He walked slowly down the steps leading to his father's bedside and headed towards the door with his head hung low. This was all his fault. He had manipulated Thor into going to Jotunheim, he had led the Frost Giants into the palace to cause the bickering between Odin and Thor in the first place. He had yelled at his father until he collapsed from the mere stress of it all. _

_This was his fault. _

_Suddenly the doors to the bed chambers were flung open, and Loki stopped abruptly. He was met with the sight of a line of guards standing just outside the doors, and the moment they had been opened fully, someone gave the command and all kneeled to him. _

_He stared at them in confusion as another appeared from the right and walked in, bearing his father's staff. He walked directly up to Loki and knelt before him, offering the staff to him in outstretched arms. He looked at him in shock, not knowing exactly what was happening or what he was supposed to do. He turned to face his mother, who had straightened her back. _

"_Thor is banished. The line of succession falls to you." He looked at her in disbelief. She was offering him, a Frost Giant, the throne? His jaw fell open slightly. "Until Odin awakens, Asgard is yours."_

_He turned slowly back to the man who was kneeling in front of him, who again offered the staff to him with outstretched arms. His father's crows cawed behind him as he slowly moved to let the neck of the staff roll into his hand, barely grasping it with the tips of his fingers like it would burn him if he wasn't careful with it. The man let go and stood up, and Loki simply gazed at the golden staff, his throat almost closing in on him._

_He was king. _

"_Make your father proud," he heard his mother say softly from behind him. He turned slowly to face her, he still holding the staff in extended arms. He forced back a smirk, but his feelings of outright approval and accomplishment were brimming on his face no matter how straight he kept it. "My King."_

Make his father proud; it was the one statement that caused the strife their realm was going through even up until now. As Loki squinted his eyes shut, his mind drifted to the past of that one moment where he had been given the throne of Asgard. All he wanted was to prove to his so called father that he was more than what he saw him as. All his life, he had lived in Thor's shadow without ever having the chance of leaving it.

Thor's banishment was the time when he was supposed to rise up and prove himself. Without Thor to cause him grief and with Odin in his Odinsleep, he could have made a wonderful king; his devious nature was only to insure that he would be given the chance, and his brother had ruined it by making such a hasty return and running his entire master plan into the ground.

Thor made him look like the villain.

Now here he stood, still as the villain. The God of Mischief; the one who forcefully took control over this still ongoing war by attacking his father and king, and yet his father had just said he was _proud_ of him?

His lips curled into a snarl. Such twisted and deformed was his reality; so conceited and outrageously maddening.

"Brother?" Thor's voice suddenly snapped Loki from his flashback. Loki snapped his head towards Thor, a snarl faintly plastered on his lips. Thor held up the tablet that was in his hands. The Director was on the screen, a not so pleasant look on his face.

"There better be a good reason as to why you've woken me up at such an ungodly hour of the morning," Fury said sharply, staring Loki down with a hardened look.

"There are two people on their way to your location as we speak: our king and queen. I request you keep them under your best protection until I can assure their safety here on Asgard, and you do not let them leave under any other circumstances," Loki said quickly, not even fazed by Fury's intimidating look. "They will bring the Tesseract to you, for it is no longer safe here. Guard it with your life, am I clear?" Loki didn't wait for an answer; he instead headed out of the palace and towards the courtyard, where he muttered something to a guard standing to the right. The guard rushed off to comply to his request.

"Hold up, you can't just tell me you're sending two people over with the Tesseract and expect me to not ask why," Fury's voice rang out behind him. Thor had followed him, he still clutching the tablet in his hand.

"Our borders have been compromised, Director. Why else would I be handing you the Tesseract so quickly, hm?" Loki snarked as he was surrounded in a faint golden glow. His armor formed on his body and his scepter with the elongated neck appeared in his open palm.

"Is this the first attack?" Fury said firmly, lowering his voice to barely above a whisper.

Loki turned his head as the helm finished materializing, looking towards the corner where the guard had run off to. Just as he turned, he smirked when he saw the guard returning with a horse; his father's horse.

"Wouldn't you like to know," Loki muttered before using the end of his scepter to knock the tablet from Thor's hands and onto the ground, causing to crack down the center and the screen to shut off.

"Are you mad?" Thor bellowed, extending his arm as he called for Mjolnir to come to him.

"Round up a herd of the horses and travel to the bifrost-"

"We are at war, and you just eliminated our source of communication with our allies! Are you trying to get us killed?" Thor roared as Mjolnir rocketed into his hand. He was about to swing it at Loki until his brother turned around and placed the claw of his scepter to Thor's neck.

"Go to the Bifrost," Loki repeated dangerously low.

"Loki, this is madness!" Thor answered him.

"Do as I say. You will find out the reasons behind my actions soon enough. Now go," Loki barked at him as Sleipnir was brought to his side. He jumped onto the horse's back and kicked his side. The horse reared onto its four rear hind legs and let out a loud whinny before landing back on all eight hooves and shot off towards the strip of desert where the glowing orb was floating over.

Thor watched his brother storm off into the soon to be war field. He exhaled gruffly before turning towards the stables on his right to follow his brother's orders. He stomped as he walked, trying to work out in his mind what his brother was planning.

Suddenly it came to him. Why would he need more than one horse to get him to the Bifrost? They were horses; you only need one horse to get you places unless…

He was expecting someone to return.

* * *

Nick watched the computer screen suddenly go black as the connection was lost. He growled and swiped violently at the cup of coffee he had sitting in front of him, making it fly across the room and shatter once it hit the wall.

_Asgardians and their stupid pride_, he thought while placing his hands on his hips and shuffling in his place. He heard machines suddenly start beeping and sounding an alarm quickly after and he watched as his team jumped into action.

"We've got a surge of radioactivity on the deck sir!" Agent Hill called out to him as she went to search the computers that were around her. "We've got an unauthorized transmute in progress; computers are reading that their biological tree doesn't match that of anyone in our database from the foreign realms, sir!"

"We've got guns locked on their arrival point, sir!" another one of his computer techs sounded off to Nick as people scurried to life.

"Stand down, agents," he said calmly.

"But sir, what if it's-"

"Loki just told me he's sending the Tesseract over to us so we can protect it while he and his army fights back a threat against them. This is the ruler of Asgard; so I repeat: Stand down!" Nick interrupted fiercely, causing Maria Hill to immediately shut her opened jaw.

"This is Agent Hill," she stuttered as she held a hand up to her earpiece. "Stand down, I repeat, stand down! These guys are friendly," she demanded to those who had the destination of these newcomers at gunpoint.

Nick rushed into action as he watched a blue aura form on the deck via a computer with surveillance cameras pulled up. He bolted down to the flight deck right as two figures were made crystal clear again, both wearing Asgardian garb. Nick sauntered out to them as he got a good look at them.

"So Christmas comes early this year?" Nick made a jab at how the man resembled a tougher version of Santa Claus; at least from the back he did.

Odin swirled around to see the one who spoke to him after wildly glancing around at his surroundings. Nick actually froze mid-pace when he saw a golden patch covering the man's right eye but then he quickly resumed.

"Are you in charge here on this realm?" Odin asked with a firm but commanding voice as he slowly turned to take in his surroundings.

Nick gave a chuckle as he approached the two, clasping his hands behind his back. "I'm not in charge of the Earth; I'm only a protector of it. I'm in charge of everyone on this ship along with a few on land. That's it." Nick gave a light shrug.

"Ah, so there is more to this world than what I see. It would be such a terrible world as small as this is if there wasn't more beyond my eye," Odin nodded, shrugging off the strangeness of what surrounded him. The airship had been put on the water some time ago to avoid drawing unwanted attention to Nick's agency, and it had run from out in the middle of the ocean not too far from Manhattan ever since Loki's first return to Asgard.

Nick gave a nudge of his head and a few of his men appeared, taking the device that held the Tesseract out of Odin's rough hands.

"Loki said we're to keep you here until the coast is clear. We'll keep the Tesseract under the best protection we have available," Nick explained to the two standing in front of him.

"If you believe me to be a king that is such a coward that he evades battle by traveling to another realm, then you are greatly mistaken." Odin turned to face him, shoulders square. He walked past him a few paces with an arm tucked to his side. "You are to call upon your greatest warriors. Thor spoke of them; they are our allies, yes?"

Nick furrowed his brow. "Excuse me, you want me to send the Earth's greatest heroes to another realm entirely?" he asked almost like he was offended this supposed King had even requested such a thing. "Fighting an army on our own turf; that's one thing. Going off to fight in an entirely new dimension is definitely not my division."

Odin turned to face Nick, his golden cape swirling at his side. "Do you deny my orders?" Odin retorted sternly.

"Odin, please," Frigga rushed to her husband's side, grabbing his arm loosely to misdirect him from something that wasn't worth fighting over. She turned to Nick and gave him a sympathetic look. "You must help us," she pleaded softly. "Thor spoke so highly of your warriors. He boasts how the six of them, including himself, fought off an invasion before. Our forces will be no match for an army we know nothing of. We need every ounce of help you can give us."

Nick looked to Frigga and then back to Odin. "Look, I'm gonna tell you this because it's true. I don't like Loki; Loki sure as hell doesn't like me and he sure as hell hates the Avengers even more. As much as I would love to let you all run back to your war, I don't want to get in a grudge match with a god that took six of my men to defeat." He spoke smoothly and calmly to the two Asgardians that stood before him. "Not to mention the fact that I'd be sending five humans into a realm full of superhumans to fight god knows what is heading towards your people with no way of guaranteeing their safety and their return. We have the Tesseract; we'll keep it safe. Unless we know for certain this is the first actual attack on the universe, I can't do anything."

Odin studied the man in front of him carefully. "You lost your eye during battle, yes?" he asked bravely.

"Where else," Nick said, half answering the Allfather's question.

"Then we have something in common, son. Hear me when I say this." He put his left hand on Nick's left shoulder. "A good king never flees from battle: he is always there no matter how vital he might be to the existence of harmony between realms. A good king will always do everything in his power to protect his people and those beyond. As you said, you might not have rule over this world, but you do command a select few, and that is enough to give you the similar responsibilities as one. Thor, my son, is a part of your brigade, is he not?"

Nick didn't respond. He simply listened as the Allfather spoke to him.

"You are sworn to protect your own no matter how far away they might be. Send in your soldiers to fight alongside me in this war, and I will protect them and ensure their safe return. You have my word."

Nick hesitated before letting out a slow nod. "Follow me then," he said quietly, brushing past Odin and heading towards the hatch that led them into the aircraft carrier. "It'll take them a bit before we can get them all here. We have most of them up at Stark's new tower where he built them all a floor specialized for each one of them. One of them is in D.C, but we can have him flown in within the hour," he told them as they hesitantly followed him into the belly of the ship.

"As long as you can have them here, then all is well," Odin said as he was led down a long hallway and up to the control center of the airship. There were tons of computer monitors and screens and technology that he hadn't yet seen before, which made him glance around at the foreign scene in a childlike curiosity. He stood directly behind Nick at the helm and watched as he took charge of his fleet and simply gave a three word order.

"Assemble the Avengers."

Odin watched silently as people rushed to make ends meet. Two birds were sent to retrieve his soldiers as quick as possible.

"Erik. Jane," Nick said while putting a hand to his ear. "Get down here. One of you come and wire up another tablet that we can send to Asgard that'll communicate through the-"

A woman came dashing up to Nick faster than he could even finish his statement. She wasn't wearing S.H.I.E.L.D attire, and instead wore blue jeans, a t-shirt and a plaid light jacket over that.

"Christ almighty, Jane," Fury said, clutching his chest after the woman had so abruptly dashed up to him and startled him. "Here, just don't do that ever again," he said as he handed her the tablet and sauntered off to take care of whatever needed to be done in preparation for the second Avengers assembly.

* * *

Loki waited underneath the glowing orb raised high above the land of the desert outstretch in silence as he waited for something to happen. He waited for movement to catch his eye on the horizon towards the tree line or for a soldier of this army heading onwards towards him to peak from the treetops. Sleipnir shuffled nervously underneath him; it was as if the horse could see what was to come or what was coming towards them and it made him uneasy.

"Steady now," Loki muttered as the horse snorted and stomped two of his front feet into the ground in his nervousness. "The Allfather is away. I am to lead us into war. I dislike this just as much as you do, but what else can we do?" he spoke softly to the beast, leaning over to pat the beast's powerful neck to reassure him. Just as the horse seemed to nicker in reply, Loki saw something at the tree line of the Black Forrest move in front of him. He straightened his back out and narrowed his eyes as he watched from afar.

He gave an audible sigh of relief and his body visually slumped in the saddle when he realized what he was seeing. Never had he thought that the sight of Sdvari galloping towards him at full speed would be so relieving to him. Orthani was on his back, twisted around to look behind her as she created a considerable gap between her and the forest behind her. He saw her rein back Sdvari for a moment and pull him to a trot as she swung him around, Sif, Fandral, Hogun, and Volstagg shooting past her at full speed.

"What are you doing, you madwoman," he muttered under his breath. It was like she was waiting for something to burst out after them that never came. He watched her hesitantly turn back towards him and continue her gallop towards him, not as alarmed as the others were.

"Sif-"

"Where is Odin? We must sound the alarm!" Sif cut him off before he even had time to say anything when she approached him, her horse screeching to a halt on his right.

"He is on Earth, and most likely on his way back as we speak," he said quietly as the other Warriors Three stopped at her side. "Heimdall has already sounded the alarm and is gathering up our army. We saw the signal and took action immediately. There is nothing more you can do," he informed her as he inspected her battle wounds she had already acquired.

Sif gave him a look as she breathed in heavily, out of breath from their harrowing escape. "They've stopped," she breathed. "We got halfway through the forest and they halted. I believe they are possibly planning their attack on the city."

Loki nodded. "And they are?"

"Monstrous," Hogun intercepted the question.

_Chitauri._ That was all Loki needed to hear. "Are you all to fight?"

Sif gave him a wary look.

"The Allfather is no longer in command. As I told Thor and Heimdall: you will either follow my command, or you will stand aside. If you rebel, then you kill us all. Now are you to fight?" he repeated sternly, his eyes getting pulled away from the warriors beside him by the horse that was just now sauntering towards them at a brisk trot.

He heard Sif answer him. "We will die a warrior's death. We do not run from battle."

He nodded as Orthani pulled Sdvari directly next to his left side. "As you should," he spoke quickly before putting out his left arm to catch her waist before she went too far past him and immediately crashed his lips to hers roughly. He felt her wince under him and he gently tugged on Sleipnir's reins to have him back up two paces so that he was right next to her instead of slightly past her.

He heard a whimper of relief emit from her throat as he forced her lips to part; he delved his tongue deep in her mouth and savored her taste before she pulled away.

"Loki, it's the Chitauri-" she said as she tried to catch her breath.

His head recoiled back slightly when he caught that her eyes were glowing. It wasn't as florescent as it would be if she had lost her control, but it wasn't a dim glow either. He gave her a nod and turned to Sif. "Go to Heimdall; if the army is ready, tell him to transport them here. Thor is waiting on the Bifrost for the Allfather, and I do think he will be bringing back with him the Midgardian protectors who defeated me the last time. Go to them; formulate your own strategy," he said coolly while his eyes gave them a stern look. "Keep in mind that if my father does actually return, the threat of the Tesseract being lost returns. You must prevent our enemies from stealing it from our grasp and if that means you must leave this realm, you do so without any hesitation. Am I clear?"

Sif nodded and nudged her head towards her troop. She kicked her horse's sides and they were off, cantering towards the palace.

"Stay with me," Loki said simply when he knew they were out of earshot.

"Loki, I-"

"Stay. With. Me," he reemphasized. "I have been distraught this entire day fretting over your safety. Now that you are here, I refuse to let you out of my sight." He gave her a stern and demanding gaze as he spoke, he so close to her that their noses were almost touching. His arm was still hooked across her waist and his hand rested gently on her ribcage. "We are moments away from war. Do not put me through that for the duration of this battle."

She stared into his emerald eyes hovering over her and nodded lightly.

"You will fight alongside me, yes?" he asked in a hushed voice as his eyes lingered over her lips briefly before catching her gaze once more.

"You know I will." She gave him a light smile before touching his lips with hers. "If you die, I die as well," she spoke against his lips before he captured hers in such a gentle kiss it made her heart flutter in her chest. His lips pressed against her again, this time with more force than before.

"This is getting to be too sickly romantic for my blackened heart," he said in a seductively dark tone that made her chuckle, though that was caught in her throat when he gently nipped her already busted lip and sucked on it lightly for a brief second before releasing her. "You look absolutely atrocious, my love," he said as he drew back from her, he still keeping his hand locked around her waist.

"Oh thanks for that," she laughed, pushing her hair out of her face and finally pulling her gaze away from him.

"Did you get mauled by a tiger?" he jested in a playful way.

She flashed him a smile. "Bilgesnipe. Such savage beasts, aren't they?"

He chuckled and finally let go of his gentle grasp around her waist. He reached up and gently took off his helmet and held it by its horns to his side as he drew her back to him by putting his hand behind the nape of her neck. He rested his forehead against hers.

"I cannot protect you from these foul creatures as I was limitedly able to before, so please promise me you will at least attempt to be careful." His voice hardly came out over a whisper as he spoke to her. "I believe I have seen you lying in your own blood more than is good for me, and it still haunts me to this day."

She gave him a weak smile and ran her fingers over his jawline. "Only if you promise me that you won't force me to experience that as well. Fair?"

_I can't make any promises._ "Of course," he answered after a split second's hesitation.

"That was hardly convincing, you twat," she laughed, playfully pushing his chin to the side so that he was forced to look away from her for a split second.

"Should I state it otherwise?" He snapped his forehead back to hers and smirked slightly. "Unquestionably. Indubitably. Unequivocally. Indisputably. Shall I continue further, or have you gotten my point?"

"Can you not be serious for two seconds?" She held his chin gently so that he couldn't get away from her. "Here I am, still bleeding from wounds not even caused by this war. How Sif, Hogun, Volstagg and I managed to get far enough ahead of this army to cause them to fall back and regroup their formation is beyond me; we should have been dead the moment we stumbled into their little trap. I've done enough risk taking tonight; I dare not push my luck any further," she reassured him when it came to her own fate. "With the injuries I've acquired, I'm more than likely going to end up in the healing room; don't do something that will land you in there as well. Got it?"

He gently kissed the center of her forehead before speaking. "I can't make any promises, love. This is a war; anything is bound to happen at any moment," he said softly before releasing her from his grasps.

She nodded and then pulled Sdvari to his right side so that she was facing the forest and standing shoulder to shoulder with him.

"Tell me what you know," he said softly as they gazed out to the forest like they were waiting for an army to come flying at them whilst fully unprepared.

* * *

"Thank you all for getting here on such quick notice," Fury said sarcastically as he gave Tony a glare from across the conference room. Tony had stalled his arrival by at least an hour later than what it should have been, which led Nick to not being too happy about it. Tony held up his hands in innocence. "Now, we've gotten the call from Asgard; they need us."

"The same beasts you have fought several months prior to now have supposedly returned in a way that has taken our forces off guard," Odin interrupted Fury before he could continue speaking. "Thor has spoken greatly of the tales of the previous war here on Earth. We could desperately use your help."

Tony gave a childlike gasp. "Field trip!" he exclaimed jumping up from his swiveling chair. "Does this mean we should all pack? How long are we staying-"

"Sit down, Stark. This isn't like a visit to go sightseeing." Nick rolled his eyes. "There is a war still going on and since you arrived an hour after you were supposed to, we don't know what you'll be walking into once you go through that wormhole."

"You mean we're going to be going to an entirely different planet to fight?" Bruce spoke up from the corner of the room where he was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, hunching his shoulders as if he was trying to hide from everyone else. "I thought we were done with this war. Why are we suddenly being brought back into this?"

"Apparently we're not," Fury answered him flatly. "We're involved in this whether we want to be or not. Now can I count on you guys to go there and fight this threat or no?"

The Captain, who sat at the head of the table, gave everyone a glance before nodding to Fury. "If the universe is in danger then so are we. Even if it's in a different world, we'll do everything we can."

"Good," Nick nodded as he heard Bruce shuffle his feet in the corner, he crossing his ankles and shoving his hands in his pants pockets as if he wasn't too happy about what was about to happen. "You look a little irritated, Bruce," Nick meant it slightly as a joke.

Bruce looked Fury in the eye. "What? I had a date tonight," he said somewhat quietly. Everyone sitting at the conference table perked up and slowly turned to him in their own ways, giving him mixed looks. "Oh come on, she's probably already upset that I had to call off dinner due to some top secret mission that you aren't even telling her about, Nick." He unfolded one of his arms and held it out as he explained himself. "When I do get the chance to reschedule with her, I can only imagine how upset she'll be when she finds out I had to leave and go to another realm to fight in a war she doesn't even know about. Yeah, you could say I'm a little irritated."

Nick gave a quick exhale and pursed his lips. "What happens in the Avengers Initiative stays here, Bruce. This isn't just another mission, the universe is at stake. You can't just run your mouth about everything to her."

Bruce gave him a hard look before exhaling lightly as a faint smirk played across his lips. "I never said I was going to tell her."

Tony, who had long since sat back down in his rolling chair and kicked the recline all the way back slowly cracked a wide smile on his face and started laughing, "Ah haha, that was a good one," he snickered, swiveling his chair around to point at Bruce lightheartedly as his nose scrunched up in his amusement. "Hacker jokes, that's hysterical. Dude, she's gonna kill you once she finds out; and by find out, I mean me tell her everything you just said."

Nick rolled his eyes and placed both of his hands on the mahogany long table in front of him. "Can we please focus here? We've got a threat on a planet that is light-years away that could very well be destroying another realm!" Nick said with a sense of urgency. "Now if you all are done, then go get suited up. I'm sure…" he looked over to Odin, who was standing over his shoulder. "Odin…will tell you what's going on. Now Loki smashed the other tablet we had over there for communication, so I'm sending you over with one. All of your communication devices have been amplified so that I can communicate with all of you directly as long as the Tesseract stays in Asgard," he said as his troops picked themselves out of their chairs and headed off to get their gear on. "If that cube is threatened under any circumstances, you must bring it back no matter what happens," he called out after them.

"We've got it Director Fury," Captain said as he was the last to exit the room. "Don't worry. We'll keep the Tesseract guarded at all times," he said as he gave him a reassuring head nod before rushing off to get his Captain America suit.

"Yeah, well I damn well hope so," Fury growled, hanging his head and shaking it slightly. This was definitely going to be interesting.

* * *

"Where are they?" Loki mused quietly as he watched the open plain for any sign of movement along the tree line. Heimdall had brought his army to him, and he had a flood of gold armor and swordsmen behind him, they all waiting for something to happen. "Heimdall, can you see anything?" he asked the gatekeeper, who was standing to his left besides Sleipnir.

"I cannot," Heimdall answered smoothly. "They have shrouded themselves once more if they have not left our lands. I cannot see them, nor the darkness that once surrounded them."

Loki gave a soft growl as he barred his teeth lightly. He kept his jaw clenched tightly as if he was on edge.

"Where are they," he gruffly muttered. "One does not hide in the lands of gods only to be stumbled upon and have their location compromised only to disappear back into nothingness."

"You think it was just a warning?" Orthani suggested warily. "Maybe _he_ was letting us know he was here and that he had an army."

"He's not that dim; it's me he wants. He lured you in for a reason: to get to me. Now that I'm here, his army has vanished. Why?" He studied the forest with a slightly bowed head. "Why even come with an army? He very easily could have snatched me from my confines had he so wished. Why send an entire fleet of Chitauri after me?"

Orthani shrugged. "Sending a message?"

His eyes darted to hers and he saw her give him a bewildered look. Right when he turned his head back towards the forest, it was like something surged through the ground right under their feet. It shook as the air was pierced with an excruciatingly loud but low-pitched hum that made everyone cringe. The two horses at the lead shuffled uncomfortably and the army behind Loki broke their ranks as they covered their ears and cowered towards the ground, they trying to bear the noise at it shook the lands.

A bright, blinding white light suddenly erupted from the other side of the battlefield that grew to the point they all had to shield their eyes away from it as it just about engulfed the other side of the field in front of them. The wind swirled ferociously around them, kicking up dust and dirt in its wake. Just as it felt like the ground beneath them was about to shatter from the pressure of what was happening before them, a loud crack of what sounded like thunder suddenly ended it all.

As everyone slowly regained their composure, Loki lowered the arm he had used to shield his eyes and watched as the dust settled, finally giving him a visual from across the field.

The Chitauri army was crouched maybe ten strides at full gallop on horseback just in front of him, their snarling and snapping fangs ready to tear each and every one of them apart. They were different; like they had morphed into such vile creatures that all they knew was to kill and slaughter. Their blue eyes were glowing, their sharp claws rippling at their sides as they curled their fingers and uncurled them in a rhythmic pattern. Their leader stood front and center, grasping a silver staff in his cold, dead and decaying hand.

"If we weren't about to be slaughtered, I would be saying how fucking brilliant that entrance was," Orthani said seriously as she eyed what now lay before her.

* * *

**A/N: **Hello again, my loverlies. (Ok, never saying that ever again.) I must tell you this before the weekend passes, but Loki's being a little bitch and is making this upcoming chapter kinda hard to write. I have no idea why, because it shouldn't be a hard scene to write, BUT if I don't manage to get this next chapter typed up before Monday (though hopefully that won't happen) then I'll have it out later than what I said I would. I'll still get it out on Monday, so help me god.

**VChrisi:** Haha, you bet there fun to write. Some more than others, but they're definitely a lot of fun. x)

**The Red Dove:** Yo, welcome back!

**Cat-Natty: **Honestly, the Marvel comics have thrown continuity out the window. It's impossible to follow the millions of different stories they have, so I was like "I'm going to just not confuse myself even further and do something on my own." xD

And I just fixed the whole "Hung-Hogun" issue. Though I'm sure if you reread it, you'll find things you didn't see before, like the billions of times I've referenced movies in each chapters on accident. x.x

**KiraMizuka:** I sent you a message about that, actually. That would be amazing if you did that x.x I think I would die

**chuckythecat: **-making love scenes are definitely happening- *gasp* who said that! x)

**moonstone6793: **Action scenes ftw. I love writing them, they're just too much fun.

**TheMagentaColor: **...cause he's the God of Mischief and Lies?

**LancelotsGirl112: **That he should.

**Kaidere: **That was an amazing phrase. xD I have never heard that one but I really want to use it in normal conversation somehow xD

And you are more than welcome!

**GoldBee: **They'll get the ending they deserve, I'll tell you that much.

And by the way, you review every single chapter, and you're almost always within the first few, so I will say that you are quite awesome. Thank you.


	13. Afflicted

_How the hell do they do that!_ Orthani thought to herself as she eyed the snarling army in front of her frantically.

"Heimdall, where are the others!" Loki snapped quietly as he kept his undivided gaze on what was before him.

"The Allfather is moments away from traveling back with the humans," Heimdall said in a low voice, hardly even moving his lips.

Loki kept a smirk from curling on his lips. His plan had worked; he knew the king would acquiesce his request and bring back the extra forces he needed to have the undisputable upper hand. It took seven of S.H.I.E.L.D's top men to stop him the first time with this army; the fact he now had the six, including his brother, that were the brute force on his side he would be unstoppable. Forget the fact he had the most powerful being in all the nine realms, King of Asgard, back to fight and rage battle at his side and his top warriors to ride into combat with him as well, he could easily overpower the numbers of this army just by sheer force.

He didn't let that pride shine through on his face, however. The moment he got cocky was the moment he always wound up being beaten by some fluke.

"You are a fool," this decaying leader in front of him spoke, his voice carrying like thunder through the air. "Instead of accepting your inevitable fate, you call upon soldiers and warriors to fight for you."

Loki smirked. "And Thanos really expected any less of me?"

"In my realm, they call men like you cowards."

"As in your realm the act of being intelligent is a crime," he said crudely.

Within a flash this so called commander was at Loki's throat and pulling him from his steed, he moving so fast it seemed like a blur as he crossed the neutral territory in between them. Loki was pulled from Sleipnir's back and dragged by his neck a short distance before being thrown to the ground roughly. Loki rolled to a stop, wincing at the sudden burning pain that curled at his neck where the clawed fingers had wrapped around his throat.

"You have a debt to pay," Brohcca's powerful booming voice pierced through the air as Orthani grabbed at Sleipnir's reins to keep the horse in check after he had been startled from the frightening advance of the enemy.

Heimdall lunged into action, taking hold of the sword that he owned and bolting to attack the beast that had just made an advance on the Prince of Asgard. Brohcca extended his arm towards Heimdall and curled his fingers ever so slightly without so much as glancing over his shoulder at the attacking gatekeeper. The moment his arm was extended fully, Heimdall froze with his sword held above his head.

Orthani eyed Heimdall's frozen state confusion. "Heimdall?" she called out only to get silence in return. It was as if he had been frozen in time, suspended in a fixed point of the universe that was no longer living.

Her heart leaped into her throat as she silently slipped from Sdvari's saddle, quietly watching as Brohcca stepped lightly around Loki's body as he attempted to pick himself off the dusty ground.

"Give up the Tesseract, you foolish god!" Brohcca roared, his voice echoing across the open land. "The lives you will lose here today in this battle will be in vain! You cannot defeat us. You cannot defeat me." He slowly paced in a circle around Loki, who was just now picking himself from the ground.

"Isn't that why we should fight? We will all die in the end should I give in so easily," Loki fought back, the side of his neck feeling like it was on fire. He knew not what was happening to him, but he fought it off as best he could.

Before he had a chance to react to what was happening, Brohcca once again glided swiftly to his side and grabbed his neck, forcing the god to hang in the air off his feet. When he moved it was like he was traveling in a cloud of smoke, his tattered and worn cloak causing such a ghastly effect. Loki's neck once again felt like it was burning underneath the deadened fingers closing his throat off and his hands automatically went to grasp the wrists that held him.

"Where is the Tesseract?" Brohcca hissed as he held him in the air.

"I…know…not," Loki choked out as his air supply was shut off. "I've sent it off…it is protected."

He was slammed into the ground and his helmet was thrown off his head. Brohcca pinned him to the ground by his neck, still choking him and depraving him of any oxygen. This time when his fingers curled around the wrist that was slowly killing him, his hands erupted in the same pain now at his neck. He watched as his hand suddenly started turning an ashy black as the fiery sensation spread up his arm slowly. He withdrew his hand and winced as Brohcca speared his own silver staff into the ground and then used his free hand to forcibly shove Loki's head to the side, his hand clawing at his cheek and the corner of Loki's left eye.

"Then you will watch as I slay every one of your men, and you will die at the hand of Thanos," Brohcca spat in Loki's face as he forced him into the ground.

Loki tried to fight back, but the strength of this beast was incredible. He hardly even budged when he tried to force him back. He continued to struggle to breathe before he heard something faintly in the distance that sounded oddly familiar and strangely relieving to him.

He smirked. "I don't think I heard you quite clearly," he strained his voice to speak as little black dots started to cloud his vision. The sound was getting closer at a rapid pace.

"Don't stall your fate, you foolish god!" Brohcca roared in his face, causing Loki to recoil slightly.

"What?" Loki's smirk widened as he waited for either the sweetened black abyss or the alternate that would happen whether he blacked out or not.

Brohcca snarled in his face. "You listen well, you despicable maggot, I-"

Just as it had happened with his brother, Brohcca was tackled by Tony's Metal Man flying at top speed before he could finish his statement. He was sent flying off to Loki's right, and Loki closed his eyes as he inhaled a breath of air deeply, his head suddenly clearing as oxygen rushed back into his lungs.

Tony threw the reaper into the ground at top speed and slowed down as he watched the being roll several times before he stopped. Tony's helmet lifted up as his feet touched the ground. "I'm sorry. I called dibs on killing him first," he said as he walked slowly to the new villain's crumpled body lying on the ground. "So I'll say this once." He stopped walking just as Brohcca hoisted himself off the ground. His helmet snapped back in place. "Don't touch my stuff."

The burning on his neck and face still remained, however, and he could feel the skin on the hand that had clenched around the reaper's wrist grow rough and drier by the second. He sat up just as Orthani ran to rush to his side and he looked at his right hand.

His heart froze at what he saw. It was like something was crawling up his skin and causing it to turn black as the cells died from whatever power Brohcca had. He turned his palm up and then watched in a silent horror as the ash black skin was replaced slowly by his sapphire blue skin of his natural form in inconsistent patterns, it mixing with the deadened black before he felt the pain stop just short of his elbow. His fingers were completely blue, but at his wrists it started mixing with the black. His Frost Giant complexion was slowly crawling to the surface.

He looked up to see Orthani had stopped her advance towards him, her eyes glossed with an emotion he couldn't even begin to describe.

Her mouth hung open slightly as she stared at the left side of his face. His cheek where the blacked patch of dead skin was turning a sapphire blue from the corner of his eye down to his lower jaw yet left an outline of the deadened black around it in a strange shape on his cheek. She watched the black spread down the left side of his neck and down out of sight under the collar of his leather armor, the cold blue following it straight down the center of his slowly perishing skin.

It stopped spreading but it left for a terrifying sight. His left eye was partially a ruby red, the color radiating from where the black skin met the corner of his lids but stopped before it completely turned the entire white of his eye red. His entire left side of his face from his eye down was tainted with this strange malformation, but his defect never crossed the symmetrical line of his face except for a streak across his neck from where the reaper's thumb had closed in on his throat.

"Oh my…god," she gasped softly, putting a hand up to cover her open mouth as she stared at it in either fear or fascination; which, she didn't quite know yet.

He dropped his gaze from her shocked expression back down to his discolored hand. He swore he heard Tony being launched into the air by the reaper's silver staff, but he never turned to look because his vision was locked onto the horror and pain that was his sad, pitiful true identity that became the downfall of his seemingly pathetic life.

"Pick yourself up, boy!" he heard the gruff voice of the Allfather sound as he made his way through the sea of gold armored soldiers.

Loki gave a disheartened smirk. "Do you think I chose to be tossed about like a child's toy?" he hissed as he picked himself very slowly off the ground. He felt someone grab his elbow to help him up, but he pulled it out of their grasps not necessarily wanting to be touched. "Might I applaud your efforts, Allfather, for blatantly disobeying my orders?" he snapped over his shoulder as he rose to his feet.

"I cannot hide away while my kingdom is under attack, Loki," Odin replied as he made his way towards his son.

Loki rolled his eyes as he looked over his shoulder to see Thor, the Captain, and Bruce Banner following his father towards him. _How utterly bitter sweet._ "And you've brought company," he said flatly.

"Wasn't that your plan?" Thor questioned as he pushed through the line of soldiers at the very front.

Before Loki had a chance to answer, he felt cool metal pressing against his throat. His eyes shifted to his right to see that his enemy was pressing his silver staff directly to the vein on his neck as he slowly reappeared, materializing from smoke at Loki's side.

"Yes, what was my plan?" he said coolly, pushing the staff away from his neck nonchalantly.

"The Tesseract," Brohcca growled. "Give it to us, or face your imminent capture and impending death."

Loki smirked. "I don't have it. Look around you; you see mortals from Midgard that have destroyed your army's kind previously standing before you, an army of Asgardian soldiers, gods and goddesses standing before your very eyes. Are you that dim to continue to challenge me?"

"I am not to leave until the Tesseract is ours. Or your life; whichever so falls to us first." Brohcca lowered his staff and pointed it at the ground as Loki's fingers twitched at his side, bringing his scepter into his grasps.

"Did Thanos tell you that?" Loki replied lowly, earning a dangerous hiss from Brohcca in return.

"Do not speak his name with such disrespect!"

Loki chuckled lightly. "I shall do as I wish. He is using you to do his bidding; you are but a pawn in his master plan, a sacrificed piece in order to get what he so wants. Tell me, do you honestly believe he will spare your…" Loki eyed his warily. He wasn't exactly alive, but nor was he dead. "…life…when this universe is brought to its end?"

"He has given me a higher life form, one now worthy of a name. For before I was once just a Chitarian soldier as those who stand behind me." Brohcca gestured his staff towards the Chitauri army not far from him.

"And he has made you a beacon of death in turn. Don't pride yourself in that," Loki mocked him with a soft snort.

The silver staff collided with his jaw as Brohcca lifted it back to his throat. Loki attempted to hide a smirk as he realized his manipulation was slowly working.

Those behind him simply looked on in silence, each of them trying to figure out what Loki was trying to do. They knew he was being sketchy, but what was he thinking? Trying to manipulate a commander who had more power than most of them was a rather bold move even for him. They exchanged slightly confused glances as they just watched the two circle about each other slowly.

"Stop your stalling!"

"Me? Stalling? Never."

"Either give up the Tesseract or give up your life. If you seek war against us, then men shall die and you will still be apprehended," Brohcca threatened with a low growl.

"Go get it," Loki said with a somewhat psychotic smile on his face. "Either it is behind the walls of Asgard's gates, or it is back on Earth being kept safe by the very humans who destroyed Thanos' first attempts at universal domination with your kind, such a pitiful excuse for an army."

Brohcca lowered his staff slightly. "Your deception is betrayed by your face, Asgardian."

"Am I deceiving, or am I misdirecting," Loki said smoothly, his signature mischievous grin curling on his lips. "Look around you. The answers are right in front of you; you claim to have been given a higher level of intelligence, so solve the mystery that lies before you: where have we hidden the cube."

"I have no time for your games-"

"Nor do I, but I can't dare pass up such the opportunity." He let out a low chuckle. "With our precious bifrost still unrepaired, there are only three ways out of this realm. To you, the fact we have our human allies along our side means that we were waiting for you; we were prepared. Though we did have to scramble to our stations, that still means that you are overlooking a very important detail that could very well end your life."

Orthani watched him speak, knowing he was bluffing with every word he spoke.

"What is your point," Brohcca snarled at Loki angrily.

"Telling you would take the fun from it." He let out a low hummed chuckle. "The Tesseract is either here or in Midgard; one will lead to your destruction by the hands of gods and creatures of the Earth who are much more evolved than their kind, the other will lead to your death by nuclear warfare the moment you arrive."

"Then we shall take you as its replacement."

"Unfortunately for you, that isn't a valid option. You must decide your fate; you may leave us and search in a realm where it is more highly protected, or you may persuade me to leave the winning side for the losing side. Or maybe I am simply manipulating your worthless mind and I am cleverly misdirecting you, but the fact that I could very well have sabotaged my own well thought out speech with such useless information disguised as facts, you can no longer separate truth from lies."

_That son of a bitch _Orthani shook her head and smirked.

"You are living under the illusion that you have the upper hand when in all reality, you have already lost," Loki chuckled. "You are my predecessor to this army of Chitauri, are you not? Tell me, are you going to so foolishly make the same mistakes I have and end this with the second defeating of your people?"

Brohcca gave him a hard, deathly stare before swirling around to his army. His voice boomed over the masses as he spoke in some foreign tongue to the already restless Chitauri that made them uproar.

Loki rolled his eyes at the vanity.

"You will have war, Asgardian!" Brohcca extended his staff towards Loki as he turned around to face the sea of gold. "You have failed to uphold the bargain made with Thanos; his mercy is not what you shall receive."

"So be it then," Loki said as his scepter charged at his side. With a blast of blue energy aimed directly at the enemy commander and the first shot of the war rung out. Brohcca, however, didn't stick around and disappeared with a puff of smoke, leaving his army to fend for themselves. Loki's initial shot barely missed him and instead hit the soldiers standing directly behind him on the front lines.

The entire battlefield went quiet as if they were waiting for someone to make the first charge. The Chitauri all turned their glowing blue eyes down to the first casualties of the war and stared; it was as if they were waiting for something to happen.

Loki furrowed his brow as he watched the fatally injured Chitauri on the ground suddenly twitch and he stumbled back a few paces until he felt Orthani's hand grasp his upper arm. He froze; everyone froze as they watched with bated breath.

Before their very eyes, the two Chitauri Loki managed to eliminate suddenly moved. They watched as every misplaced nut and bolt returned to its place and every fatal wound close before their very eyes. They writhed back to a standing position, and the moment their backs were straight again, their glowing blue eyes flashed back on. They stood before them, pristine as if they hadn't been hit at all.

_They are practically indestructible_ the thought ran through Loki's mind as he watched the once dead Chitauri brush themselves off as if nothing had happened. _They have become an unbeatable force. _

Suddenly, the entire flood of blue glowing orbs snapped back to the Asgardian army standing before them and they let out a horrific screech before they charged. Loki swiftly grabbed Orthani's wrist with the hand that hadn't been so strangely taken over with his Jotun form and turned on his heels before Odin had given the orders for his army to protect the city. They were briefly engulfed in a light gold hue before they vanished as well, he pulling them back to the golden wall running around the city.

"Are you barking mad!" Orthani shrieked when they had reappeared next to the wall. Before she could say another word, Loki clapped a hand over her mouth as they watched the sea of gold rush the battlefield. They kept quiet as they saw the Iron Man come rocketing back to the fight and they jumped when they heard the outstanding roar of the Hulk piercing everything overall.

She fought away from his grasps. "You can't run from this fight just because it didn't go the way you expected it to, Loki," she said, snapping his attention from what was sure to be a bloodbath.

"I. Am not. Running," he suddenly snarled in her face as he grabbed her upper arms in a death vice. "They have become undefeatable. Not only will this be an incredibly long fight, but they will overpower us and wear us down faster than we can find a resolution." He lost the irritated snarl and simply gave her a long, hard stare.

"Calm yourself," she hushed him, exhaling roughly as he let her go. "We'll find a way to best them; we just have to be vigilant."

He started pacing around her aimlessly with his hand rubbing against his forehead as he tried to think of a plan to combat this new development. "Their commander; he vanished," he stammered as he squinted his eyes shut.

"Well so did you-"

"Your smart mouth isn't going to help me work out what our strategy should be, so unless you have something more intelligent to say, do not speak," he snapped at her as he spun on his heels.

She snatched the lapels of his leather jacket and pressed him up against the golden wall. "I don't know what the hell he did to you, but that doesn't give you a reason to be an absolute pompous asshole to me." She locked his gaze with hers and gave him a stern look. "Calm. Down. You may think slightly clearer if you stop losing your mind over this." Her eyes gained a softness to them as she spoke.

He gave her a sarcastic smirk. "Tell me; how much of a monster do I look to you?" he half spat. He didn't have time for this at the moment.

"I think you look dashing; now can we please get back to this war before we have more casualties than we can handle?" she retorted.

Loki's nasty mood disappeared almost instantly after she spoke. He watched her let go of the lapels of his leather coat and walked away from him.

"They are all practically machines or computers in one way or another; they must have something keeping them running that if we seek out, we can easily take them down or at least render them useless-"

He grabbed her wrist just before she walked completely out of his reach and swirled her around to face him once again. He studied her still faintly glowing green eyes.

"Loki, we don't have time for this," she said to snap him out of his thoughts.

"Will you let me attempt something?" he asked as he held out his left hand. His scepter snapped into his outstretched hand almost like Mjolnir would answer to Thor and he held it to his side.

She cocked her brow and tilted her head to the side. "Is this really the time for science experiments?"

He shut his eyes and held his breath to avoid snapping at her again. "Orthani."

"What?"

"I need that woman who slaughtered ten of our guards single handedly out there on that battlefield," he said softly as another roar erupted from the fight just to their left.

"Are you mad-"

"You can maintain control of yourself; you've been using this power at a portion of its potential for the entire day, correct me if I am miraculously wrong. I need everything I can possibly utilize out on that field, and I would never ask something of you that I knew you couldn't handle on your own. Do you trust me?"

She saw a faint hint of desperation on his face that she hadn't ever seen before, and maybe even a hint of fear. He was scared; fearful of what would happen to him should he either get captured by this new leader of destructive Chitauri and brought back to Thanos to serve whatever it was he had to face or ended up killing half the universe's best warriors and defenders that he had at his side at the moment. She realized at that moment that he didn't deviously manipulate his father to bring back the Avengers because he wanted them by his side; he did it because he needed them. He needed every soul that could possibly help him in this situation because he truly didn't want to face either a fate worse than death or one where he dooms the universe to its end.

He had the slightest hint of good still left in him; though his motives for saving the universe weren't the best of motives, he still wanted it to live on.

"Staring blankly at me in silence isn't going to help me," he snapped her from her mental epiphany. "Do you trust me in this or no?"

She nodded even though she didn't believe in herself enough to believe him when he said that she would be able to remain in control of this destructive mistress he was about to release from her confines back in the depths of her mind. "Just…hurry this up. I'm sure your father wouldn't be too happy if he sees you've retreated behind his forces," she stammered lightly.

Either she was going to regret what he was about to do or she was going to surely bring a lot of unwanted attention to herself when the Chitaurian soldiers realized she was also to be considered a major threat along with the other gods, goddesses, and superheroes out on the field at the moment.

She snapped her eyes shut and folded her arms across her chest, curling her shoulders as she cringed. She felt the tip of the claw from Loki's scepter lightly dig into the skin just above her heart as he pressed it to her. She didn't know how it necessarily worked exactly, but she felt like electricity was sparking across her skin and it made her jump slightly. Her arm shot out to grasp onto his arm that he was holding down at his side as she simply waited for something extremely bad to happen.

She suddenly felt the strange sensation cease and all was relatively still besides the ongoing war in the background.

"Still with me, lovely? Or have I just made the most tragic mistake of my life?" she heard him say as he withdrew the scepter from her chest.

"You didn't do anything, did you?" she asked, cocking her brow slightly as she kept her eyes shut tightly. "It sure as hell doesn't feel like you did."

"Well, how about you actually open your eyes and let me have a look?" He rolled his eyes at her reluctance to believe what he told her.

"Right, because that's the smartest thing to do after you've supposedly released my own demonic monsters from their binds," she scoffed as she felt Loki's arm slip from her grasp.

"Orthani."

She exhaled roughly and then cracked an eye open warily.

"Have more faith in me next time, shall you?" his voice smoothly rang out before he turned back towards the ongoing onslaught. Just as he suspected, she didn't have that intense glow, but instead had eyes that were a deep emerald green with specks of gold peppering the intense color instead of her normal pale jade when she didn't have such an unrelenting force running rampant through her veins. She was under full control of it at this point; whether or not it would stay that way, he was unsure of but yet he had the feeling she would be able to control it. "Go on; get going. I'm sure your lovely, narcissistic metal man would appreciate your assistance," he lightly jested as his body was bathed in a faint golden hue as his armor disappeared.

"What are you doing?" She eyed him warily, wondering what was going through that brilliant mastermind of his.

"The armor is just for decoration, mostly," he said as the hue disappeared. "I do believe it's been quite some time since the last time I truly participated in a battle that utilized my sorcery to its fullest potential was so long ago I cannot bother to actually remember it." He gave her a crooked smile before suddenly dropping it. He could only imagine how slightly frightening that could have looked with the affliction now plastered across the left side of his face, down his jaw to his neck before it stopped at least a few inches below his collar bone. He silently hoped whatever this was wasn't permanent. He already had to live with the fact he was a member of such a disgusting race; he didn't want to have to live with the constant reminder ruining his complexion for the rest of his life.

"Alright; come on. We've stalled this battle long enough." She withdrew her two silver daggers from their sheathes behind her back and she put a hand on the bend of his arm. "As dreadfully exhausted as I already am, we cannot keep blithering about while everyone else gets overwhelmed."

"Shall we make this a contest? Hm?" he quirked, tilting his head to the side slightly.

She laughed. "Only you in the midst of war would make a contest out of battle." She shook her head lightly.

His devious smirk fell slightly as he turned away from her. "During the midst of war, sometimes it is best to ignore the tragedies around you and focus on the victories that lie ahead. I cannot help that I choose to do so by having the slightest bit of fun."

She chuckled. "How very poetic," she hummed lightly while rolling her eyes. "Let us go help the soldier, shall we?"

He nodded. "Very well."

With that, Loki thrust them into the heart of the fighting, hardly giving them time to assess what was around them before they had to jump head first into the action. They fought side by side for a short period of time before they were slowly pulled in opposite directions from the fight by joining to assist their allies. They were simply fighting to thin out the herd, getting as many Chitauri down on the ground as possible before they had a chance to get up and then repeating the process. It was working at the moment and they weren't being drastically overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of the Chitauri army, though every man had their work cut out for them. The fact that they had two of what was debatable as Asgard's most powerful sorcerers (Orthani being based more off of potential than actual capability at that point), the most powerful being in all the nine realms Odin and his trusty steed, four of the fiercest fighters in all of Asgard, a god of Thunder, and the entire Avengers team waging the same war seemed to make it all the more bearable for everyone.

Clint and Natasha had taken their perch atop the highest tower in the palace, weapons at the ready in order to do some long range single shot kills as silently as possible. Tony had already given them the word to hold off since their shots wouldn't do anything but alert the Chitauri to their presence and bring them to the attention that they had the Tesseract, it still cradled in the clear transporting device, sitting at their feet. Tasha had one of S.H.I.E.L.D's new toys; a smart scope single action sniper hunting rifle with a silencer, precision scope and a target lock system that would seek out anything she pointed the barrel towards. Fury called it the Hawk since Tony had joked about the fact it was basically Clint in gun form when Fury approached him with the concept blueprints just a few months prior.

"Come on, Stark," Clint muttered into his earpiece. He had his bow grasped to his side. "You better find us a soft point for us to hit. I'm not leaving this place without test driving my new gear."

There was a split second of silence before he heard Stark's reply. "I'm a little busy at the moment, but in the meantime, feel free to get yourselves killed."

"Well what's a war without risks?" Clint gave a slight smirk before jumping up on the ledge of the balcony and withdrawing an arrow from his case and putting it in the rest. He knelt down on one knee and drew the string back until it was taut.

"Clint, what are you doing?" Natasha gave him a wary look before she glanced back down the scope to watch the war in front of her.

"I'm searching for a weak point," he said as he slowly swept the aim of his bow across, searching for the perfect target.

"Don't get us killed-"

"Swing your sight over to Loki and just watch," he interrupted her when he found his target. She did what he told her to and locked her sight onto the Asgardian as he was fighting against a single Chitauri. She heard Clint release the shot and then waited with bated breath until she saw it hit its target. The arrow sunk into the back of the Chitauri's neck and sent it to the ground, causing Loki to jump back to avoid getting caught by it. Natasha watched as Loki stared at the fallen soldier, waiting for it to get up.

It never did.

She watched him look up towards the tower they were in, a somewhat confused look on his face. He bent down and pried the arrow from the Chitauri's body and nudged its head with his foot to check and see if it was still even alive. She saw the blue lighted eyes had gone out.

Loki pulled the arrow from the Chitauri's neck and held it up, studying it and the location he had just pulled it from. At the tip of the sharpened arrowhead was what looked to be a tiny, ocean blue cubed chip that had been pierced by Clint's arrow. Tasha watched as the look on Loki's face went from to confusion to realization in the blink of an eye.

She suddenly heard Clint draw his bow again, except this time he was holding it sideways and had it aimed behind him.

"You never miss a single step, Agent Barton," she heard Loki's frighteningly low voice drone from behind her. She turned her head to look over her shoulder to see Loki standing there with the arrow still clutched in his fist.

He looked rough. Half of his face was a strange blue surrounded by black and his left eye was partially a bright red, making him look like he was a monster straight out of a child's bedtime story. He had minor nicks and scratches on his face and neck, but no more. His breathing was heavy and deep; a sign that he was fighting extremely hard and the lack of any major abrasions only clarified that.

"You know, I still haven't gotten the chance to put an arrow through your eye socket for what you did to me," Clint said smoothly. Natasha quickly looked back down the scope to see that Loki had indeed disappeared off the battlefield.

_That's just creepy_ she thought as she turned back to face their once arch nemesis.

"This is not the time for settling grudges; as much as I would love to send you falling off the edge of this very building out of pure spite of what you call a team, we are on the same side." He walked up to Clint and moved his bow down so that it was no longer aimed at his face. With his other hand, he held up the arrow Clint had launched just seconds ago. Still wrapped around the tip was a strange small cube with rounded edges no bigger than the width of his smallest finger. "This." He reached out and gently popped it from the arrow and held it out. "Wherever you just shot at, that is where this resides. A single hit just took down a soldier without any resistance. Now tell me, Agent Barton, was that simply one of your specialized ammunition or was it simply coincidental?"

"You wanna watch?" Clint gave another smirk before swinging his bow back towards the ongoing war. "There's a gap in their internal spine that opens up to a cavity just behind their heads," he explained as he swept his bow slowly in search for his next victim. "Once one moves just right…"

He let the arrow fly and they all watched as it soared through the air and sunk into the skull of a soldier right where Clint was talking about. It fell to the ground and its eyes extinguished, leading to the second official casualty on the enemy lines. "…that gap opens up when they move their heads just right. Whatever's there looks important." He drew another arrow and shot it without hesitation this time. Loki watched as another soldier went down.

"You can see that from here?" The pitch in his voice raised slightly in a minor shock.

"They don't call me Hawkeye for nothing," Clint said proudly as he drew another arrow and shot that one as well, bringing down yet another Chitauri.

Loki's brows raised in approval. "I cannot believe I am about to utter such words at a mere mortal man, but…well done. You very well just might have turned the favor of this fight to our side." He mumbled the phrase at most.

"Orthani's got you good, doesn't she," Clint gave a heavy chuckle as he let another arrow fly towards its next victim.

"Just because I give you praise doesn't mean I believe you necessarily deserve it," Loki said quickly as he headed back to where he had materialized from. "I still spite your people's involvement here but I am no fool to deny a worthy ally when I see them." He gave a light jump when the machine the Black Widow was at emitted a light poof as she let out a shot of her own. She slid the action back and reloaded her gun before scoping out another Chitauri. "Stay hidden. If they see you, the Tesseract is put in immediate danger and it would be most disappointing if we lost two invisible killers hiding beyond their eyes."

"Like a Ghost." Clint smiled slightly at his own pun as he could sense Loki disappearing from their presence.

"Hey Robin Hood, I thought I told you to stay low," Tony's voice crackled in his ear.

"Sorry, you were taking too damn long," he replied, swiftly putting another arrow in the rest. "There's a weird chip thing in the back of their heads; every time I sink an arrow in their skull through an open gap, I keep hitting it and they pretty much shut down. You wanna run that?"

He heard silence from the other end. "If you weren't so adamant about shooting them all half to hell, Miss Romanoff, I would do that," he heard Tony finally answer.

"Get your own kill shots, Tony," she answered back in her own earpiece.

* * *

**A/N: **So I'll have you know that my laptop decided to be a dick and in the end, I had to rewrite a good 3/4 of this chapter. HOPEFULLY IT'S STILL GOOD. I don't know, I can't compare it to what I once had, but it is what it is.

Same goes for the next like...two chapters or so.

**moonstone6793: **She's like the Horatio Caine of Asgard. One liners all the way. xD

**gallowsCalibrator92: **=O Thank you so much!

I always end up putting some sort of references in my story. Skyrim definitely isn't the first. And I couldn't bring myself to edit out the Sherlock reference when I realized I made it. x)

**loki's-bitch-221B: **Aw, thank you so much! I would give you my writing skills, but then I would fail college. x.x And that wouldn't be good.

**Cat-Natty: **I can't even find a comic book store IN AMERICA that sells the Avengers comics. Otherwise I'd have a few myself. x.x

**VChrisi: **Haha, ok! I'll refer to my readers as loverlies now xD

Bugging down a story with too much romance and lust and whatever else might be overly done in romance stories always looks kinda trashy to me. x.x It's not that I'm handling it differently, I'm just sorta balancing everything out and they just seem to click with themselves otherwise.

Plus, I doubt being all overly touchy right before a major war, actually during any scene that doesn't really have any sense of privacy especially considering Loki isn't one to be emotional and show his affection in front of others unless given some special circumstance, would only make them both look like obsessive whores and that isn't attractive. x.x

**xxyangxx2006: **It's only just begun, my friend! It's only just begun. x)

**Jayc Black:** -insert Inception music-

**TheMagentaColor: **I'VE BEEN ON THE DARK SIDE. Loki's turned me to the dark side on his own, it's quite scary. x.x

And WOO! MONDAYS!

**GoldBee: **=D Thank you!

**chuckythecat: **Well, I've actually taken the time to hand write it, and as of right now, it's 4 pages front and back on college ruled paper and it's still not even completed yet. I hand wrote the first few chapters of this sequel, and they were six pages front and back on college rule. By the time I transfer it over to my computer and edited it and added a whole lot of meat to the entire thing, I think it's safe to say this will be no short half-assed smut scene.

**The Red Dove: **Haha, yeah. I found it strange; two leaders of the realms each have eye patches. I had to do something to bring that to light. x)


	14. Song of the Broken

Orthani knelt down to the ground as the Chitauri around her suddenly fell to the ground, their eyes extinguishing long before their body even landed. She was tired, utterly exhausted from the fight still raging on. Since she had lured the three soldiers she was fighting away from the main chaos, she was able to stop and catch her breath. Her muscles were screaming at her to stop since she had been at this all day with the whole bilgesnipe attacks and now this. Her lungs were burning in her chest and her heart was about to pound right through her rib cage it felt. She could feel a trail of blood running down her neck and she was sure she probably had a number of nasty gashes on her body where she was unable to move quick enough to avoid every one of the Chitauri that were sniffing her out.

Someone had found their weakness, she was sure of it. There were Chitaurian soldiers lying about every so often and they weren't getting up as they were expected to. Whatever it so happened to be, she was grateful; it meant that this battle wouldn't go on forever as she thought it would.

As she knelt to catch her breath, she watched the battle from a slight distance. She was able to keep invisible to the Chitauri still fighting in front of her by keeping to the shadows, and she used that to her advantage. Her eyes glanced over as she watched everyone in battle; Thor was flying around as always using his lightning to aid him, Odin was blasting apart soldiers with his staff, Sif and her warriors were fighting a ferocious battle side by side, the Iron Man was slightly distracted as he flew around and aided those who needed his help, the Hulk was actually humoring himself by throwing the Chitauri into the ground forcefully and then watching them get up only to have him sling them back into the ground, and the Captain was fighting Chitauri like the champion he was. She assumed Clint and Natasha were the ones responsible for the Chitauri that lay dead at her feet, but they were out of her sight. Heimdall still remained frozen, he standing far back from the fight and still under the strange spell Brohcca had implemented him under.

She scanned the crowd again, her mind realizing that someone was missing from her subconscious headcount. When she saw the flash of his ice spikes, she gave a small sigh of relief. He was still there and still accounted for. She stood up straight, sheathed one of her daggers she held at her side, and headed back to the fight regardless of the fact that her body was still begging her to stop. She could push past it; she had done it plenty of times before when she was conditioning her body to bend to her will back when she hand Loki had commandeered her grandfather's house for a handful of months.

She rushed back into the fighting just as things were brought down to the wire. The numbers of both armies had been diminished drastically, but there was still quite the battle left to go.

"Care to explain to me what's going on?" she shouted at Loki as she vaulted past him to take down yet another soldier of the Chitauri army that was behind him.

He bent over slightly while holding his hands behind his back. "I believe Stark knows more about what is happening at the moment than I," he strained his voice before drawing his hands to his chest and tossing a well-aimed ice shard into the head of the Chitauri heading towards him. It pierced through its skull and its eyes went out before it crumpled to the ground. "Care to tell me why you look almost as terribly wounded as your mortal friend with the shield?" he mused as he felt her stand with her back to his at his shoulder.

"You know," she gave a soft grunt as she swung her arm across her chest to throw a sharp, white hot charge towards an oncoming Chitauri. "It's quite difficult to continue fighting for your life when you've been at it for almost an entire day." She quickly tossed her dagger into her other hand where she held the blade in between two fingers before flicking her wrist as one would crack a whip, sending it barreling into the jugular of the Chitauri still coming for her.

He glanced around wildly; his mind raced as the thought came to his mind that something was about to happen that would change everything. He hesitated as he watched what was slowly unfolding before him. A thick darkness crept onto the battlefield and engulfed them, preventing any light from the shining moons overhead from lighting their path. A crack of what sounded like thunder roared overhead as the air grew thick, making it difficult to breathe. Loki could feel his lungs closing in on him, and he couldn't bear to stand there any longer.

He didn't hesitate to grab her wrist and turn on his heels, moving them both out of the thick smoke and back out into open air. He turned to face the thick smog now covering the battlefield and kept Orthani behind his back absentmindedly. He watched as he heard sounds of clattering shields and weapons cease and all grew relatively quiet.

Thor erupted from the smoke and came careening towards them, he crashing into the ground before he skidded to a stop right at their feet as Mjolnir bounced along the ground after him. They had to duck to avoid getting hit with the thing as it barreled towards them, it ringing every time it hit the ground.

The Iron Man soon followed, he shooting out of the fog like a bat out of hell except for the fact he was flying so close to the ground that his foot got caught and he tumbled to a stop not too far off from Thor.

After that, all went deathly still. Not a single noise broke through the silence besides the panting and heavy breathing of the four that had escaped the smog.

"What the hell just happened?" Tony spoke as he stood up, his Iron Man suit making noises as he did.

Loki hesitated before he shook his head, his jaw hung open as his lungs begged for air. He eyed the now blackened battlefield in anticipation. He was waiting for anyone; the Allfather, Sif, Volstagg, Fandral, Hogun, anyone to run out of that smoke.

No one ever did. The silence seemed to be deafening.

"Sharp Shoot, Robin Hood, you copy?" Tony spoke to his two team members up at the top of the towers only to get nothing in response. "Director Fury?" Still nothing. "Alex? Alex, come on, I need that code!"

"Have they left?" Thor groaned as he slowly picked himself off the ground.

Tony's helmet snapped up as he looked to assess the damage. "Either that or we just lost…"

"She can hear you, sir, you just can't hear her," Jarvis spoke as Tony trailed off in the middle of his sentence. "She claims she has it ready, but you will have 5 seconds to disable the chip located in the commander's head."

"Five seconds isn't going to be long enough-"

"I can use the remaining energy in the reserves to boost it to an extra 15, but she warns that it will drain your suit, sir."

"Then do it-"

"Wait, not yet! The commander isn't even here right now!" Orthani interjected before Tony used their last hope before they needed it.

"Ok wait, never mind! Don't do it! Not yet, at least," Tony exclaimed, hoping his hacker could hear him.

"Wait until he shows himself. He ran off at the start of this war like a true coward," Orthani muttered under her breath. "Using up a valuable last attempt at winning this when the one it is intended for isn't even around."

She heard Tony say something, but what, she didn't know. The only thing she knew after she spoke was the feeling of something piercing through her armor and slicing through her skin just in between her ribs. Then there was the pain as her throat closed on her, shortly followed with her vision blacking out as she was tossed to the side. A short yelp left her lips as she landed on her side, feeling what could have been a blade still lodged in her rib cage with a death grip being shoved even deeper into her side when she landed on it. She felt something in her side give as she hit the ground and she fought back a scream from the pain that ran through her chest at that moment.

Her vision slowly returned to her, but her mind blocked out everything else that was happening around her. Through the white hot pain that was spreading through her chest, she managed to look over to her right rib cage to see her very own dagger protruding out of a freshly bleeding wound. She gritted her teeth and let out a muffled scream of agony that she let die in her throat as she rolled onto her stomach, her eyes tightly snapping shut as she clutched at her wound as if it would ease the pain. It had been shoved in to the hilt, 4 and a half inches of the sharp blade surely puncturing a lung at least.

She tried to push her torso off the ground but her body didn't want to work with her. She had felt more pain with the shot from Barton, but this was waning incredibly close with that level of agony and within seconds it quickly surpassed that and more. She felt her lung refusing to let in air and she knew she was definitely in trouble. She dropped her head to her arm as she forced her body to pull her knees underneath her. A sharp pain made her inhale sharply through her teeth. She could feel her entire torso pulsating in pain as blood ran through her chest.

Her head was spinning and she couldn't think straight to save her life. She did the one thing she knew was required; she reached her left hand over to the hilt and slowly gripped it. She gave one last desperate inhale before she pulled the blade from her side, feeling not only a spike in pain but also her wound seeping blood from the hole in her chest. She felt the Asgardian powers of quickened regeneration from otherwise almost fatal injuries kick in and she, within a few seconds, was able to breathe properly again.

The pain was still practically unbearable; when she had landed on the hilt of the dagger, she was sure she had cracked a rib or two and that was an injury that would take ages to fully repair. She collapsed back onto her side, the one that hadn't just been stabbed by her own blade, and fought against the pain that was partially receding as she tried to collect her breath.

Through her closed eye lids, she saw a bright blinding light suddenly burst through and her hearing picked up the muffled grunts of the others being tossed so carelessly to the side as well. She heard Tony's cry of "Now would be the perfect time, Alex!" just as the light disappeared; unfortunately she also heard the sound of him hitting the ground and not saying a word afterwards just a few yards away from her.

She was almost afraid to open her eyes, but she had to. There was something gnawing in her stomach telling her she needed to. When she finally willed them to open, she had to focus her now double vision in order to see clearly. As her focus slowly returned and her uneven pants and desperate gasps of air made the pain in her side worse, she saw the horrific scene that was in front of her.

She watched as Brohcca glowered over Loki, who was on both of his knees trying to pull himself up off the ground. Before he got the chance to stand, Brohcca placed the head of his staff to Loki's shoulder and hesitate before pushing it through his leather, and she heard it rip through his body before exiting his chest and into the ground with a swift push. The silver was painted red when it left his body, leaving Loki pinned into a kneeling position with a staff going through his shoulder and into the ground.

She would have screamed if she had found her voice, but the only thing she was able to do was whimper, her arm reaching out and claw the ground as she curled her body as much as she could.

* * *

Loki heard the sudden scuffle just behind him, but everything happened so fast that he wasn't able to wrap his head around it before he was ambushed. He had swirled around when he heard Orthani's desperate yelp get choked out and he saw her skidding to a stop quite a distance away from him, a silver dagger, _her_ silver dagger, protruding out of her ribs. He was about to run to her, but he was suddenly thrown to the ground on his back and the air in his lungs was knocked out of him. Brohcca had returned, this time to finish off the presumed last survivors of his ungodly slaughter.

He scrambled to get to his feet so he could fight back, hearing his brother yell in anger as he tried to get up. With a sudden flash of white light, Brohcca used his silver staff to blast the two remaining heroes back as to not have them interfere with his assassination of the God of Mischief. He planted two feet firmly on the ground and tried to turn and send a group of ice spikes in the direction of the reaper, only they managed to pass right through his decaying body without doing any such damage.

The silver staff was pressed against his throat when he crouched down to prepare another attack. He suddenly had no power to control his own body; the silver scepter was pressed against the back of his jaw and he was forced to walk forward before Brohcca shoved him in the back just between his shoulder blades, forcing him to fall to the ground and put his hands out on the ground to avoid face-planting into the dirt. Before he could get up, he felt something at his shoulder; then he felt the pressure just below his shoulder blade followed quickly by excruciating pain as the silver staff was shoved into his shoulder, piercing all the way through his body to the other side.

He gritted his teeth and his eyes snapped shut as he keeled against the rod now paralyzing his shoulder. He was pinned to the ground, that metal rod keeping him from moving as blood poured from his wound. It was pressing against his collar bone uncomfortably as if it would snap under pressure should he move wrong.

And the pain; his vision went black as the pain radiated from his shoulder from the now torn muscles, skin, anything that staff had ripped through when it pierced his body without much resistance at all. His head fell to the ground as he couldn't deal with the pain running through his chest and let out a growl in agony, he resting his head on his arm that wasn't crippled from the scepter.

He felt the rod twist in his shoulder and he flinched, carefully pulling his knees closer to him to relieve the unnerving feeling of his own skin and flesh pulling and twisting, trying to fight against this foreign object. His breathing grew drastically heavy and uneven as he struggled to not move his impaled shoulder. He cracked an eye open when he felt that rod still twisting in his shoulder and he watched the head of the intricately designed staff turn before being ripped out of his shoulder violently to cause even more damage than it had done going through his body in the first place.

Pain: Agonizing and unrelenting pain was the only thing he felt as the rough teeth of the staff ripped through his shoulder. He keened under the feeling of his shoulder bursting into fire as blood seeped through the hole in his shoulder and stung as it left his body. His forearms held him up off the ground, his head resting in them as he tried to keep himself together.

He was going to fight until the end. He pulled his knees closer to his chest as he tried to recover; he could feel the hole closing already due to his fast regeneration abilities with his magic, but that didn't stop the bleeding.

He had almost gotten himself healed enough to barely pull himself back off the ground, but when he felt something odd run through his back and just below his heart, it knew instantly he wasn't going to be able to fight to his death. He managed to pull his eyes open just long enough to see a wispy, smoky outline of the staff running through his chest. It was like a ghost; not actually impaling him, but still running through him.

He snapped his eyes shut and his fists clenched in anticipation; he already knew what was about to happen. He heard a menacing cackle from behind him before he felt the object now hovering through him solidify. Bones shattered in its wake, skin and muscle tore suddenly as it seemed to mold to his insides and fuse with his body with a white hot sting that made him hiss and groan in agony, it being the only noise he could make since his voice had long since left him. It barely missed his spine, but only by a mere few centimeters and it tore through a lung, however leaving him able to breathe since the staff didn't tear through his body like the first time. It wasn't going straight down as it was before; it was shoved in at an angle so that it could barely miss his heart and still protrude out of his chest just underneath it.

His voice left him as his chest burst into a pain so strong that he couldn't move. The feeling of his bones shattering at something suddenly taking their place; the silver rod now running through his chest and being compressed by his straining muscles. His body was twitching, trembling and spasming uncontrollably as he fought for every breath that entered his lungs, the pain increasing with every inhale he took, no matter how sporadic and uneven they were.

It took every ounce of self-control he had to not panic. One wrong move would rip his chest open.

"Tell me, Asgardian; how does it feel to be breathing on the brink of death?"

His eyes opened as he frantically tried to inhale, his lungs not wanting to take in air. His left hand went to clutch the rod now buried in his chest as he tried not to move in a way that could possibly end his life. With his forehead still buried in his forearm, he could barely make out the footsteps of his soon to be murderer walk from behind him towards his head.

"Your soul will rise into the hand of Thanos, and you will be brought to your punishment of your failure," Brohcca hissed as he walked around him. "Your body will be delivered unto him, and you will rise only to be brought to the brink of death until your soul breaks under his power, and then you will watch as your realm is…"

His voice suddenly stopped. Loki waited for his death to come, in whatever way this reaper so planned. He waited for what seemed like an eternity, but within just a few seconds, he heard something fall to the ground just in front of him.

His head shot up and his gaze immediately gathered a fuzzy double image of Brohcca lying on the ground. With his jaw hung open and his body heaving under the constant agony he was in, his eyes darted around in hopes that someone was ready to end this fiend. His face was drenched in a cold sweat that fell in his eyes as he searched, but all he could make out was three other figures lying on the ground, seemingly lifeless from his distorted eyes. One off over to his right was moving, but it wasn't enough to tell him that they were even capable of killing off their attacker. A groan escaped his lips as he closed his eyes and put his head back to the ground as well as the arm that was clutching at his impaled chest. His bloody right hand unclenched and an ice spike slowly formed in his curled fingers.

He didn't know how long he had, but he knew that if he waited much longer, his body would reanimate and they would lose this war within the first battle. He slowly raised his unsteady arm above his head, cringing as he did so; the pain in his chest seemed to radiate throughout his entire body the more he raised his arm. He lifted his head to see where he needed to sink this final kill shot before using the remaining energy and strength he could muster up to sink the spike into Brohcca's skull right where the chip in every Chitauri he had managed to kill so far had been located.

It was over. With one single spike to the back of his skull, the fight was over.

He collapsed on his side and closed his eyes, his body still trembling and quivering from the staff still piercing right through his chest. His arms sprawled out in front of him while his knees folded close to his body and his head rested gingerly against the ground. He had nothing in him left to even begin healing himself; the wound from the first spearing he took was still only partially healed and still bleeding massively. He was growing weaker by the second, his breaths were growing shallower by the second and his senses were only being overtaken by excruciating burning in his chest.

* * *

Orthani watched the entire thing as she struggled for her own breath; she watched Loki writhe as he had Brohcca's silver staff driven through his chest like he was some sort of sacrifice. Tears ran down her cheeks and stung the wounds on her face; the tears were both from the pain and inability to breath as well as seeing Loki being tortured to such insufferable and harrowing pain. It killed her, the fact that she was incapacitated and unable to help him made her feel utterly useless. She couldn't breathe; her lungs wouldn't let her. The one that had been pierced by her own blade was still healing, and still left her with half the air she needed to even crawl her way to his side.

She struggled against the throbbing pain at her side, watching in almost utter relief when Brohcca suddenly fell. Whatever Tony had done worked, but that wouldn't matter unless someone was able to finish the job and win them this battle. Thor was sprawled out on the ground, his mind seemingly unconscious from the blow he took when he hit the ground and Tony was the same way, his Iron Man suit suddenly powerless.

She tried to move; she tried to pull herself off the ground and make her way to Loki even though she knew well enough she wouldn't get there before the effect of the interrupted signal that inhibited the Chitauri to move would wear off. When she attempted to pull herself off the ground, her lungs screamed at her in such a sting that she collapsed back to the turf, her head rolling back to rest against the dirt. She wheezed in every breath she could get and closed her eyes. She had to wait until her body repaired itself enough for her to move, for she was sure she was only making it worse.

She threw her arm out to her side, letting her shoulders rest on the ground while her lower half twisted to her left. Air; that's the only thing she needed was air. Once her lungs filled with glorious oxygen, she would fight her way over to him, her pain and suffering be damned.

When she heard what sounded like something piercing through a rough outer shell, her eyes fluttered open. She craned her neck in an odd way to see Loki had plunged one of his spikes into the commander's skull. She would have given a huge sigh of relief, but her lungs were still incapacitated to the point that she was becoming light headed from lack of oxygen.

She closed her eyes and let her head fall back onto the ground. _Please heal. You've got to heal; I can't leave him over there, please. Come on, breathe! My god, please breathe… _Her pleas rang out in her head like a broken record, or even a desperate prayer. With another few seconds that seemed like centuries, her lungs suddenly kicked into gear and she gasped, her lungs finally filling. Her eyes flew open and she gingerly scrambled to her feet, her hand clutching her side as she continued to slowly spill blood from the wound.

She limped over to Loki's side, stumbling to her knees and kicking the now defeated enemy aside as she reached him. She collapsed on all fours in front of him, his body drawn in as much as his aching muscles would allow and some of his hair falling in his face. His eyes were closed, his muscles were twitching and trembling uncontrollably and he was panting as his lungs clamored for air. His face had gone a deathly pale and it was contorted with a look of suffering across his cheeks; the first thing that came to her mind was how little that could actually portray of what he was feeling in that moment.

"Loki," she gulped as she put a hand to his discolored jaw. His eyes barely fluttered open at her voice, giving her at least a sliver of relief. She couldn't tell if it was blood she could feel sliding down her cheeks or tears, but in that moment, she didn't care. She leaned over him and pressed her forehead to his, being overly cautious of the staff still protruding from his chest. Her fingers lightly clawed the side of his head in what seemed to be desperation. "Loki, _please_ fight it; don't let this defeat you," she stammered in anguish. She could feel the pain radiating in her side but she brushed it off with an immense effort. "You can beat this; don't let him win. You can't. You can't let Thanos win."

She felt his fingers hook around her arm weakly and she could feel her body shiver in fear of possibly losing him.

"You can't let him win. Don't you dare give yourself to him so easily. You can't do that to me. Please. _Please _fight this." Her words were becoming more and more desperate. She saw his eyes start to slowly shut and the panic in her stomach almost broke her into hysterics; but she kept herself together. "Nonono, stay with me! Stay with me; I've got you, just stay with me."

_Keep yourself together, Orthani. Crying isn't going to solve anything; just stay calm. _She heard a throaty groan from quite a distance behind her and she snapped up, swirling her head around to see where it came from. She was able to make out Thor, who was pulling himself off the ground and to his feet far enough away from her that she could barely make out his outline.

She turned back to Loki when she saw Thor limping towards them and rested her forehead on his once more. "Listen to me, don't speak a single word. Just nod your head; if we pull this thing from your chest, will you be able to heal yourself fast enough?" she spoke hoarsely in his ear.

She watched as he opened his lidded eyes just enough to look her in the eyes and he barely nodded his head, his breathing raspy and irate as he lay in exhaustion from the toll the pain was taking on him.

She gave a few uneven exhales before nodding; she then sat back up, keeping a hand to Loki's sapphire blue cheek to ensure him that she wasn't going to leave his side. "Thor?" She barely managed to call out to his brother. "A bit of assistance, will you?" she spoke, the quivering in her voice almost betraying her calm exterior.

He fell to his knees to her right on the other side of the staff protruding from Loki's chest. His heavy breathing and gruff grunts told her he was just as exhausted as she was. Since it was still dark, she wasn't able to make out many details of his injuries, but she could tell he was still injured pretty badly.

He saw his brother's impalement and almost raged. Of course, he always knew that Loki might've not been the most honest and loyal man in Asgard, but there was still at least an ounce of good in his blood. He didn't deserve to die such a vain death.

"Pry that scepter from his chest," Orthani gasped the order to him. "Gently; very slowly. I fear if it is too dangerously close to his heart, you'll injure him beyond repair if you don't do so with the upmost care."

He nodded and waited for her next call. She scuttled to where she was kneeling directly in front of him and she stooped over him, putting her lips gently to his temple before she rested her forehead against him. _Oh gods, what do I say?_ She looked at Thor through the corner of her eye and gave a nod. She felt Loki's entire body tense as his lips curled into a wince when she heard Thor start to pull the staff from his chest, the sickening sound of metal sliding through flesh and bone swirling in her ears. His muscles trembled as a groan escaped his throat as Thor pulled the staff through his chest, a grimace clenching his jaw as he forced himself to muffle the cries and growls of pain that threatened to escape through his parted lips. The pain that went through his body as the staff was pulled slowly through his chest weren't as bad at first, but it built up to something almost as great as the initial bone-shattering blow he took with it had solidified in his chest.

His fingers curled around Orthani's arm with a vice grip as he took the pain silently other than a few exhaled grunts and sharp inhales through his teeth. His vision faded to black as his body shuddered from his agony and his breathing became sharp, shallow intakes that only sent more pain igniting through his frame. The cold and clammy sweat seemed to catch fire on his skin as he felt the rod of the silver staff slowly inching through his chest. He couldn't take this much longer; his muscles were screaming for sweet relief from the agonizing torture and he had to use every bit of his control to not recoil from his brother's hand.

His mind went fuzzy, he seemed to lose the feeling in his skin, and his hearing suddenly dropped as he felt a heat engulf him just before the staff was pulled from his chest. Just as the staff was pulled from him, a sharp groan left his lips as he felt the hot trickle of blood already start to spill from his chest. He rolled onto his back, now finally free from his impalement, and tried to gasp for air; his lids felt almost too heavy for him to open his eyes. His chest heaved as he tried to breathe, only half accomplishing that task due to the second hole now running directly through the center of his chest. He pulled his knees in so that his feet were planted against the ground and coughed involuntarily.

His head lulled to the side, his muscles weakened from his wounds. His senses were slowly returning back to him; the first thing he felt was Orthani's hand at his jaw, clutching the side of his head as he struggled for air.

He felt himself slipping; he didn't have enough strength left in him to kick his regeneration into gear. He feared he might have lost too much blood at this point…

"Fight it, Loki," he felt Orthani plead against his lips. "Don't you dare abandon us; you can't. You can't leave me here; I don't belong here in Asgard unless I am at your side. You cannot leave me here on my own. Please, I beg of you, _fight for me if you see no other reason to._"

He felt her lift his chin off the ground and press her forehead to his as her thumbs gently caressed his cheeks. He forced himself to let a faint smile curl on the corners of his lips. Since he couldn't find the strength to speak, he simply forced himself to lift his chin just enough to brush her lips with his to let her know he would be fine, and then he rested his head back on the ground. He rested his arm with his Jotun skin just above the wound in the middle of his chest and let his mind go numb.

He let his body take over the healing process; there was nothing more he could do for he was too weak and utterly drained of any energy he needed to speed up the regeneration of his body. He let his mind lax and he ignored everything around him. He had been through worse and had come back relatively quickly, so he knew this shouldn't be so hard of a task.

And so he let his mind drift; drift away from the still throbbing pain, drift away from the world and from the chaos around him, and drift into a black abyss that he knew once he escaped from it, he would be healed enough to let him live on.

* * *

**A/N:** I'm sorry if I broke your feels with this one.

Also, another thing; I DID go ahead and sorta do a joint thing with LiteralIrony because she had developed a character that had a skill that I needed, and instead of taking the time and creating an entirely new character that I wouldn't be able to cover very well, I decided to let hers shine a little bit here.

If you want to see the whole "Alex hacks the Chitauri from worlds away" scene, go to LiteralIrony's story. It'll be there hopefully soon, and yes, I do plan on doing another joint chapter with her in the future because I would love to have an already developed character play a semi-big role in my story, but I don't want to take the time to develope them so far into the story already because it'd waste a lot of my time, really. =) That, and she wanted good ol' miss Ghost to make an appearance in her story at least once, and her being my best friend in real life, I couldn't ever say no. =D

**Cat-Natty: **Haha, I'm gonna have something with Loki's whole Jotun form in here, possibly. If I do put something like that in here, it's not gonna be the whole "Oh my god, you're beautiful," it's gonna be more "I'm not afraid of you." Because telling Loki he's beautiful, I think, doesn't really help him. He needs someone who isn't afraid of him in that form to really come to terms with it.

**moonstone6793: **I try and write really descriptively so that people can picture it. I want it to be more than just words on a screen, I want it to be a visual image in your head. Every word I write is written for a reason; it isn't just empty sentences or words used to take up space like I've seen from someone else just recently. (ha, I probably shouldn't have said that, but whatever.)

If you can't see something in your head as you read it or reread it, then I have failed as a writer. That's my motivation.

**serie-movie: **Hi there! So glad you stopped by! =D

**TheMagentaColor: **It wasn't that Tom didn't deserve the TCA, the TCA didn't deserve Tom. ;D

**GoldBee: **And I always look forward to your lovely reviews!

**KijoKuroi: **=D Thank you so much! What a hell of a compliment! x)

**Psyren: **Gotta love Tony. x) He's such a character to write, I'll tell ya.

**chuckythecat: **Oh god, well I just made him slightly worse x.x

**Lolz: **-ziiiing-

**The Red Dove: **xD I love your reviews sometimes. They make me giggle like a schoolgirl xD


	15. Outcast

Orthani felt his lips graze hers with such a feather light touch that she almost missed it. Her closed eyes fluttered open to see the grimace written on his face fall to a more peaceful one as his breathing evened out. The paleness still written on his face was frightening to her; he had already lost a lot of blood from what it looked like, though she also knew that the blood that pooled around them was partially also hers as well she figured.

She gave an exhale of relief. He wasn't about to abandon them just yet; his deep inhales told her he would be fine within time. She kissed his forehead lightly before sitting up straight, her shoulders sinking in solace.

She felt a firm hand grasp her shoulder and she looked over to see Thor giving her a light nod while looking over his brother's weakened frame. "Watch him while I check the smog for the others," he said softly. "It is slowly dissipating; whatever spell it has put everyone under should be lifting along with it."

She sniffed and gave him a nod of her own before looking back down at Loki. As Thor stood up from beside her and walked off to go wander into the clearing smog, she wiped the back of her hand against her cheek, smearing the thin layer of blood, sweat, tears and dirt across her face. She still pushed the twinging pain of her own lacerations to the back of her mind and moved; she sat cross-legged close enough to Loki so that she could, instead of letting his head rest on the ground, let his head rest on her leg close to her hip. She ran her fingers lightly through his hair as she simply stared at him in silence. At one point, his breathing had slowed so much she went to put her hand loosely to his neck to make sure his heart was still beating in his chest.

She gave a deep exhale as she ran her thumb over his jaw; she could see his bleeding slow to a stop over time and his wounds slowly start to close, but it wasn't much of a change, though it was a change nonetheless. She was careful not to directly touch his sapphire cheek; the palm of her hand had already gotten slightly burned from his discolored skin, leaving it with a faint navy blue mark as if she had gotten frostbite, though the pain from it was practically nonexistent compared to what else her body was going through.

The sky started to lighten as the sun was starting to rise over Asgard. She rested an elbow on her knee and rested her chin on her knuckles. She was beginning to feel everything aching in her muscles and the pain was slowly returning to her. She felt like she had gotten run over by a bus.

"Well this looks familiar," she heard Tony's voice snap her from her lost daze.

She looked up at him from under her bowed head. "I'm sorry?"

He was walking towards her, his Iron Man helmet gone and his suit absolutely trashed. "Oh, that's right. You were dead the last time," he said in a somewhat snarky tone.

She simply gave him an odd stare before turning her gaze back to Loki, her finger lightly tracing the outline of his blue colored skin.

"So is he dead or dying?" Tony asked her as he sat down next to her while still facing Loki, resting his elbows on his bent knees. He was inadvertently keeping the rising sun out of Loki's closed eyes, keeping him partially shaded.

"He's healing," she hoarsely spoke after she had cleared her throat. "Not quite dead, but not far from dying," she huffed heavily, causing her hair to fall in her face. "What did you do to cause them to suddenly shut off?"

Tony's brow raised slightly, giving a hint of his exhaustion in his eyes. "All machines have an off switch." He leaned over to Brohcca's seemingly lifeless body and reached to grab the destroyed chip out of the back of his neck. His suit touched the outer shell and he hissed, recoiling from the sudden burning sensation that barely made its way through his suit from the tiny gaps in the plate metal. He reached in again, this time being a bit more careful, and dislodged the chip, pulling it out from its base. "Well, it's not really an off switch; more like ripping out their nervous system in a way."

_So they are all still living. Why did I expect any less._

She cleared her throat again. "Is it possible for you to set up a security field around our hidden borders as to prevent this from happening again?" she said quietly, looking Tony directly in the eyes.

He gave a rough nod. "I'm sure I could whip something up," he said simply before exhaling.

She could tell he was tired. Hell, everyone had managed to take quite the beating in this fight. She gave him a nod and heaved a sigh. "They evaded Heimdall's gaze; how, that is a question even I am baffled at. I cannot dare stand aside and let this happen again," she spoke softly as she combed her fingers through Loki's hair, moving the strands that had fallen in his face back to where they belonged.

He watched as she interacted with him; such a soft touch against his forehead she made as she lightly grazed through his hair. So caring were her caresses and gentle nudges her fingers laid against his skin as she wiped the blood that was oozing from an open cut at his jaw. He had no sympathy for the god; Loki only got what was coming to him in his eyes. After the hell he had raised back in Manhattan, he only deserved to be lying on the ground, bleeding from his wounds. He did, however, commend him for finding someone who did sympathize with him no matter what his past record looked like and for keeping that person up until this point; for if he couldn't give him any sympathy, who else on his team besides Thor would either?

"He's lucky." That was the only thing that came from Tony's lips as he stared at the fallen god. She furrowed her brow.

"What do you mean by that? He's lucky how?" she asked him as he stood up to leave her.

He gave her a shrug. "I dunno. Figure that one out and then we'll talk," he smirked before walking out to the now clear field to help his fallen team members back to their feet. Since he saw people standing up from their once fallen positions on the ground, he knew that the smog wasn't a killer; it had only been implemented to incapacitate them.

She turned her head over her shoulder as she watched him walk away and head back towards the field, now scattered with both armies' soldiers lying about the ground. She winced as her side gave a slight twinge of pain from when she had twisted her body to be able to look behind her. She hissed and quickly fixed her posture, a hand gently clasping her side as it gave sharp throbs of pain in disagreement for the way she had contorted.

She saw Loki's eyes partially open when she turned back, he gazing off into nothingness as his breathing remained deep and slow.

She gave a smile of relief and pushed the hair out of her eyes, tucking it behind her ear. "You look absolutely atrocious, my love," she quoted him, repeating him word for word what he said to her before chaos erupted.

He tilted his head as his eyes slowly slid to meet her gaze. His lips curled into the faintest hint of a crooked smirk. "Is that really the best retort you could think of?" His voice was weak, hoarse to the point he sounded as though he had lost his voice.

She gave a lighthearted chuckle. "Not in the least; however, I considered that saying the first thing that came to my mind would more than likely manage to anger you and decided against it."

"And what, pray tell, would that be?" He briefly dropped her gaze to let his eyes wander around his surroundings before meeting her eyes again.

She flashed him a grin. "Thanos was busy so they sent you to me," she said playfully.

She watched as his gaze dropped from hers and his brow furrowed in thought. "Considering the fact I should be lying dead before you at this moment, that might be a bit brash if I do say so myself." He very slowly pulled himself up so that he was sitting on the ground, grimacing as he did so. He had one hand pulled to his chest, the palm covering the hole that was still gouged in his chest just under his heart.

His entire body felt empty from the fact he was once racked with such intense pain; pain to the point that once it had partially left, it took most of his energy to even bring himself to sit up. After such an experience that had him toying with the brink of death, when he closed his eyes and took a deep breath in and expelled it slowly, he felt more alive than he did most of his life.

He heard Orthani's scuffling behind him as she pulled herself to her feet, partially struggling against her burning side telling her not to. He rested his arms on his bent knees as he continued to let his body heal enough so that he could stand. When he heard her sit down right beside him so that she was facing him, he gave her a short glance.

"Get yourself to a healer. I shall be fine," he forced out in a gruff, throaty voice. It was all he could muster out at this point; that thick, hoarseness that made him sound sick with some sort of illness.

"As much as you are allowed to fret and worry over me, I cannot do the same to you?" He turned his gaze to her with a look filled with pain more than anything else even though it was slight. "I will not go to a healer until I can watch you walk off this field by your own strength, and even so, I shall remain by your side as you have done with me on several occasions."

He scoffed, only to instantly regret it when he felt it sting in his chest and the smirk was replaced with a wince. "Tell me one occasion that I've done so," he taunted her. The last he could remember, he had always ended up leaving her behind or leaving her stranded somewhere.

"That night when you ran off to cause trouble and came back late-"

"That hardly counts as an occasion seeing as though I was still late," he managed to quietly interrupt her.

She closed her mouth quickly before leaning back. "When I was shot by Clint. Coulson so gracefully brought me to the floor and you could have very well just left me to bleed out; instead, you took me with you and healed me. So do not tell me I have no reason to stay out here until you can march out of here on your own two feet." She grinned in her victory.

He couldn't argue with that. He gave her a side shrug before looking out towards the field where mostly everyone, except the Chitauri, was rising from the ground as far as he could tell. "How bad is it?"

"I don't know, to be honest," Orthani shrugged, also turning her gaze over to the war field. "I've been out here with you."

He watched closely as he saw Odin rising from the ground, closely followed by Sif, the Captain, Volstagg, Hogun, and Fandral. Everyone had some sort of battle wounds, but none seemed to be as drastic as the ones he had acquired. He could not tell if he was grateful for that or envious for their state.

"Come on," Orthani huffed as she slowly pulled herself off the ground. "Everyone else is heading back; at least those who can are. Let's get you to a healer, shall we?" She extended her arm out to him, offering to help him up.

Loki stared at her outstretched hand for a moment, his eyes catching sight of the navy blue burns on the palm of her hand and her fingertips from where she had so carelessly touched his Jotun skin. He couldn't pull his eyes away from it, the thought that he had done that to her without even trying almost making him feel sick to his stomach.

Before he managed to disgust himself further, he took her outstretched hand, grabbing her close to her elbow where the leather of her armor covered her skin to avoid giving her hand a more frostbitten blue to them than they already were. She helped him to his feet, his back hunched over due to the nature of his injuries. He winced as he stood, a sharp pain erupting in his chest that almost brought him to his knees. Had it not been for Orthani's vice grip on his arm, he probably would have crumpled to his knees.

"Easy, Loki! Easy," she coaxed as she struggled to hold his weight, her side screaming at her in pain. "I've got you. I'm right here, just take all the time you need," she spoke through gritted teeth.

He gave a sharp groan as he used her to stand properly on his own two feet. He was able to straighten his back, and he paused before taking any steps towards Asgard's walls. He closed his eyes to breathe momentarily before he walked, limped rather, towards the golden wall. Orthani stayed by his side, keeping a firm grasp on his arm as she helped him, acting as a crutch for him to use to avoid collapsing to the ground.

Every step he managed to take sent shock waves up his back, making him inhale sharply every time he felt them run up his spine. He felt ridiculous at the fact he was having to walk so gingerly across the open field. He was the Prince; he should not need some woman aiding him in walking back towards the city.

That thought suddenly left his mind when he felt his spine sear in pain, bringing him to one knee as a hiss left his lips. He immediately felt Orthani's grip on his arm tighten slightly as she crouched down with him, she waiting for him to recover from whatever his body had disagreed with so painfully. As his eyes snapped shut and he lowered his head, he could hear her talking to him even though he didn't bother to make out what she had said to him.

It was almost like deep within the confines of his mind, his mind was telling him that he knew she was no ordinary woman. She was in pain just as he was; she was a woman who had fought alongside him until the very end. No matter how much his pride and ego were being brought down by such the occurrence, he knew they both were in need of each other more than anything at that moment.

He lifted his chin and opened his eyes, regaining his composure as the pain faintly subsided enough for him to continue his walk. He refused to be carried off this field like some injured soldier, for he was no soldier. He was going to walk off this field if it killed him. He slowly rose to his feet again, his left arm across his chest as he did so. He felt Orthani rise next to him as well and he tightened his grip around her arm.

The entire trek was a struggle for him; at times he could barely breathe, and even his vision left him occasionally due to the blood loss. His body was left so weak after the initial impalements and the excruciating agony had consumed him to where he could feel just about every spasm that racked his body.

When they reached the gate to the city, everything changed for him. He was no longer free from thoughts as he was before since they had reached the city limits. He could feel eyes watching him as he walked through the golden gate; they were studying him like he was a wild animal or an outcast being dragged back to the city with shame. He could feel them, the eyes of the people of Asgard were staring him down like hawks circling above prey.

This silent town of Asgard suddenly knew the abomination that he was. Prince Loki of Asgard was no Asgardian on the inside. His Jotun skin, now frozen to the surface gave him a new identity, a new reason to add to the bigotry and dislike for him. He now had the attention of everyone who could see him and it wasn't the attention he wished to have. He could practically feel their disgust, their demeaning glares and their revolting sneers pierce his back even though they remained as stone-faced as possible. He lowered his head, hiding in his shoulders as he felt his emotions return to him. Like a caged animal being paraded around for all to see, he continued to walk through the city towards the palace in the center of town.

Orthani could feel his uneasiness as they limped through the city. His grasp at her arm tightened dramatically and she could tell by the way his posture changed that he no longer felt his pain; he felt what it was like to be victimized by everyone who was able to catch a glimpse of his sapphire cheek and his partially red eye.

People shied away from the streets until they made it up to the palace; it was like words spreading as wildfire. Though their prestigious leaders had won the surprise attack, one of them wasn't even who they thought he was in the first place. The entire realm would know within hours, and that was truly sickening to Loki beyond imaginable.

The guards waiting up at the palace took Loki from Orthani as she approached the rear entrance. They led him straight up to the healing room without much protest from him and since he was still on the verge of dying, the valiant tradition of letting the king be the first to be attended to was disregarded due to his state.

As injured as Orthani might have been, the importance of her life didn't match that of the King or Thor; she was not a member of royalty, at least not at that moment anyways, and therefore she couldn't bring herself to follow Loki inside until the others had paraded in as well. She waited in the overcast of the palace for them, it only taking them a minute or so to catch up to her.

When they did enter the palace, they all got swept away by either guards or servants of the castle; Sif, Orthani, Volstagg, Hogun and Fandral all collapsed from exhaustion the moment they were forced to lie down. The five of them had been out almost twenty hours fighting without any way of restoring their energy. They had been running on mostly adrenalin when they had brought the Chitauri to the fight, and at this point they were so exhausted that they instantly collapsed into a blackened sleep as their bodies finally pulled the plug and switched their consciousness off.

Peace was brought to them at last.

* * *

When Loki finally awoke, darkness had once again fallen. All the lights in the infirmary were extinguished and the only light that illuminated the rows of small cots was the moonlight filtering in from the windows just above the heads of the cots.

As his world slowly came to him, he slowly opened his eyes. His torso had been propped up as to avoid him lying directly on his wounded chest and back and most of his armor had been removed save for his leather trousers.

The moment he made the realization that the two holes in his chest had closed considerably, he carefully sat up. There were no nurses or healers around him, and his first instinct was to make an escape. He couldn't stay down in this infirmary; he felt not only cornered but also absolutely deplorable and pitiful as well. In this wing of the healing ward he felt weak and vulnerable every time he wound up spending time there and it suffocated him to the point of madness.

He had to get out. He needed no help from these healers anymore. His energy had been restored to the point where his magic could send his regeneration into hyper drive and he could be healed within two days should he so choose.

He reluctantly swung his legs over the side of the cot and placed his bare feet to the cool stone floor. His hair fell in his eyes as he paused, waiting for someone to try and stop him. When no one disapproved of his actions, he slowly stood on his feet and almost let out a relieved exhale when he didn't have such violent pain shoot through his body.

He snatched his leather overcoat from where it had been hung on the bedpost and quickly shoved his arms through the sleeves. He realized he made a mistake when he felt his right shoulder twinge in pain as the collar caught his arm when he was pulling his other arm through the sleeve. He bit his lower lip, fighting off a muffled groan as he waited for the pain to subside. His eyes clenched shut and he froze midway of putting his coat on. Once the burning in his shoulder left, he quickly threw the rest of his coat over his shoulders so that it covered his bare chest.

He left his cot disheveled behind him as he quietly crept towards the door. When he managed to slip out without waking the other dozens of people sleeping soundly, he bolted down the empty corridor towards his chambers. He held one arm against his chest as he briskly limped down the halls and then let himself in through the double wooden doors once he had traveled halfway across the palace to his quarters. He closed them softly behind him.

Through his otherwise calm and collected exterior burst the nagging pain that had been building the entire time he had been traveling. With his back pressed to the wooden doors, he slid down to the floor with his eyes clamped shut. He held his breath as the dull twinges in his chest calmed, waiting until he could think straight again before he dared tried inhaling again. A thin sweat broke from his pores as he waited until that moment, not daring to breathe until he could regain his composure. When he opened his eyes, he was met with darkness engulfing his bedchambers except for the light filtering in from the glass panes in the balcony door all the way across the room.

He silently clamored over to his leather chair directly to his left, using it to pull himself back up to his feet. His eyes darted around the royally furbished room, his eyes growing accustom to the dark. He debated whether he should retire to his extravagant bed or he should rest on the leather couch just across the room next to the unlit fireplace.

Just then, he caught his reflection in a mirror all the way across the room on the far wall. His blue right hand looked dead in the terrible light, his face and neck in the exact same state. He looked almost demonic in his reflection.

He froze as he studied what he saw in the mirror, it being the first time he had truly seen what damage Brohcca had done to him. He moved so that he could see himself fully in the floor-length mirror and then froze again, keeping his eyes focused on what he saw.

Foul. Revolting. Repulsive. Vile. An outright abomination and absolute disgrace. He sneered at the image before him in disgust. The hideous blue skin tainted the natural Asgardian color, leaving him mutated and afflicted. He saw the blue travel down his neck and across his clavicle, down past the collar of his coat, and he was sure it had worked its way down his chest though he wouldn't dare look. He didn't have to look. He could feel the colder, frozen skin radiating the lack of heat a good ways down his left side of his chest before it tapered off just before the last rib swept across his lung.

He forced himself to look away, his curled lip twitching slightly in anger. He had walked through the city like this, not only critically injured but his Asgardian complexion compromised as well? He knew it was bad, but this was well beyond what he expected. With a face as his, the partially blue discoloration of his cheek and his partially red eye, how could he not be tossed aside? He was the outcast, the prodigal son.

There he was; the monster he always knew he was, now staring directly back at him as terrifying and ruthless as he thought himself to be.

No one was going to listen to him now. His secrecy had been compromised; no one would listen to a petty Jotun boy who had been raised by the king out of pity for him. He was already considered a runt next to his brother; if those who so called him that found out he had the blood of a Frost Giant running in his veins? Not only would they consider his existence on their land treachery but he would be looked upon as an abomination that he is considered high enough to be called Prince. He was nothing to this higher race he had managed to become simply from the loving care of his mother, Frigga. His race was considered subhuman, far from the superhuman he had become.

They would not listen to him. They would rather let their world die than to listen to the voice of a Frost Giant who had deceived them so much in the past. His deception and misinterpreted deeds that he had accomplished before were all to gain not only self-worth, but the respect of those around him, and all that had done was made those who stood at his brother's side go against his power and rule to bring the so called 'rightful King of Asgard' back home when he was still a reckless man. He only ever wanted to prove to the Allfather that he could rule and make a wonderful king; he wanted to prove to his father that he was no monster as his race labeled him to be. Yet everything had unraveled in front of his eyes when his father still saw him as the villain when all he was trying to do was to prove himself worthy to be considered an equal to Thor; to no longer be looked down upon as the stranger, less able sibling.

He truly was the God of Mischief and the God of Lies. His entire life was built upon them. He could never gain respect from his kingdom, he couldn't gain anything that was promised to him since he was a child. He was simply lied to until the day he would have been used as a treaty bargain between Laufey had he not so deceptively led him to his assassination. Every truth he told was a lie and every lie he told was taken into serious consideration by the ignorant people around him. He was no monster, but those around him would see him that way and therefore push him to his demonic insanity that made him the monster everyone so feared.

He would be the fall of this universe. His destructive, outlandish rage would be the death of everyone, and he knew it just as well as the next man: all because a little blue was plastered on his skin.

He mentally broke. This was all too overwhelming for him to even contemplate at this moment.

He bolted around the corner where his bed was located and swiftly glided towards the balcony door. He ripped it open with such force that it hit the wall and bounced back as he swiftly stalked out the door and up to the water basin that was perched on a golden pedestal off to the right next to the railing. He briskly walked up to it and hunched over it, breathing heavily as he rested his wrists on the railing just behind the pedestal. After he closed his eyes and took in a few breaths, he dipped his hands into the water and scooped some out to bring to his face. He ran his palms over his cheeks and forehead, soaking his heated skin with the cool liquid to clear the thoughts from his head. He repeated the process once more, bringing a hand full of the crystal clear water in his palms to his face and letting it run over his skin. He then just swirled his fingers through the unsettled water before raking them through his disheveled hair to slick the strands back into place.

He froze when the surface of the water calmed enough to reflect an image of his distorted face. He couldn't help but stare at it breathlessly before swinging his arm furiously at the bowl, knocking both the basin and its pedestal over with a loud clamor. Consequentially, the wound in his shoulder suddenly sparked to life, causing him to audibly grimace and fall to one knee as he clutched the wound in pain.

After a moment or so when he realized the pain wouldn't subside this time, he struggled to pull himself to his feet. He limped over to the other side of the balcony, kicking the overturned basin as he did so, and strained as he sat down with his back against the railing. He let his head fall back and his eyes shut as he bent his knees and rested his arms across them before he buried his head in them. He sat out there for god knows how long; alone, bleeding, in pain, and forsaken like the outcasted monster he truly was.

* * *

**A/N: **Sorry for such a long wait you guys. Not only did I have a weird internet mishap a few days ago, but I also had a really bad case of writer's block. x.x Like, I knew what I wanted to happen, but I just couldn't get any of it typed up or written down for apparently no reason. Well, the reason was because I was sorta worried about having an OOC reaction with these next few chapters, but I think I've skirted that. Writer's block vanished (for now.)

However, now that I've broken past it, I've taken a few days to write some stuff, get it typed up and ready to publish for you guys. Hopefully I'll not freeze up again like that. That was bloody terrible. x.x

**VChrisi: **Aw, thank you! =) I'm working on it; I've got some good stuff planned. Last chapter was me just kinda showing off, really. I had some chick piss me off and I literally said "I want to see you write something like THIS" and then wrote the worst thing that could ever happen to Loki ever. x.x

**octobrepoussiere: **OH GOD I'M SORRY -gross sobbing-

**TheMagentaColor: **Yeah! LiteralIrony's my bestie in real life. Good to know we share some of the same readers x)

**Cat-Natty: **Eh, I guess you can count the next few chapters as that, really. It's not as up in your face as some of the ones I've read, but I guess it can be counted as such? O.o

**Jayc Black: **Oh good, I was hoping to traumatize somebody with this one. x)

Just kidding. Thank you!

**GoldBee: **D: I'm sorry. I apparently have a thing with writing really sad things every like...7 chapters. xD

**TheHuntress98: **Bahahaha xD That shouldn't have been funny, but it was in a cruel way xD

**xxyangxx2006: **He'll be mischievous, it just won't be obvious. Keep that in mind.

**serie-movie: **Um...yes?

**chuckythecat: **I haven't written past the first couple thousand into 17. x.x

**The Red Dove: **Haha, I'm a college girl. When I think school girl, I think like...middle school/high school, not really college. Cause you can be in your 30s and still be in college...O.o


	16. Chaotic Instability

Orthani slowly drifted back into consciousness as the light filtering above her head grew brighter. Her entire body ached but the pain from her wounds was long since gone.

She was lying completely on her stomach with her arms folded under a pillow at her head. The upper half of her body was completely bare as to let the gashes across her back heal properly since some went all the way to bone at points. The bed sheet started at her lower back, though she had on her leather pants so it wasn't all that necessary.

She opened her eyes and squinted at the light shining dimly in her eyes. Had she had something covering her front, she would have rolled out of the cot, but unfortunately she was stuck with a light in her face. She reached up and felt for the satin robe hanging on the bedpost and pulled it down, quickly shoving the sleeves on her shoulders and covering her bare breasts before moving out of the beam of light.

She held the knee-length robe to her body as she sat up, hanging her feet off the edge of the bed. She quickly tied the fabric to her body and looked around, gathering in her surroundings. She was in a much smaller room than the hospital wing and Sif had been put in a bed just off to her right, but that was it. No other beds were in the room, nor was there anyone else there. Warriors or not, she and Sif were still women and so the healers treated them as such by giving them their own private room.

The walls had an old English church style structure to them and the moment that dawned on her, she bolted towards the door. She already had a fear of hospitals, and the fact that she felt like she had been locked up in the infirmary of a church just made her feel even more uneasy than she already was.

She quietly slid through the golden door and out into the hallway, her hair falling around her face in an untamed, disheveled mess.

"Orthani!" Thor's bellowing voice echoed down the hall. She jumped, clutching the thin fabric to her chest instinctively.

She turned to see Thor heading towards her, his precious hammer nowhere in sight. "If you are going to instruct me to get back to bed, it will be of no use," she stammered hoarsely. "Hospitals, well…infirmaries never settle well with me so-"

"No worries, Orthani," he said as he put a hand up to stop her stammering. "I cannot stop you if you are able to walk on your own. I must ask, however. Have you seen Loki since he was taken by healers?" he asked, his brow furrowing slightly.

She shook her head, gently tugging the robe tighter to her body. "Why, has he vanished?"

Thor nodded. "He does not need to be walking with the injuries he has sustained. Not this early," he said in concern. "A guard has told me he has put a powerful ward on the hall of his chambers that nearly threw him through a window at the end of the corridor where his hall is. I suspect you know nothing of this?" He raised his brow.

Again, she shook her head. "I honestly didn't know he could implement a ward that strong."

"It wouldn't be the first time he has taken us all by surprise. I assume you are heading that way anyways; shall you accompany me to his quarters?"

She exhaled. "I might as well."

They walked in silence as they made their way through the palace, Orthani walking slightly ahead of Thor. As they turned down the final hall, however, Orthani spoke.

"Have you heard anything from Fury?" she croaked, her voice getting stuck in her throat.

"We have yet to make any sort of contact with Earth, though we do believe the Widow and the Hawk transported back without any issue." His answer was enough for her.

She gave a sigh in relief. "I guess that is a good thing. And what of the other Avengers?"

"Sleeping soundly, last I heard. I do believe Tony has-"

He was suddenly cut off as he flew backwards violently and flew to the end of the hall. He hit the ground roughly before rolling to a stop. Orthani burst into laughter, her side in stitches as she felt her smashed ribs twinge in a light pain.

"It is not that humorous," Thor growled as he picked himself up. She clapped her hand over her mouth to stifle her laughing. "Do not move," he instructed as he briskly made his way back to her. "If you walk too far forward you might get-"

Just as he walked up to her, he was vaulted back again and landed in the same spot. Orthani's laughter spilled through the hand she had clasped over her lips to keep quiet, and she keeled over while clutching her stomach.

"You're right. It isn't humorous, it is hysterical," she cackled as Thor groaned, this time not even bothering to pick himself up so quickly. "Thor, honestly, there is absolutely nothing here," she said as she stood up straight and waved her arms out in front of her while she walked towards the double wooden doors that led to Loki's bed chambers.

"I'm not going to fall for that," he snorted as he got to his feet. "He has let you through; it means he is not there to regulate who passes."

She furrowed her brow in confusion.

"If he honestly didn't want to be found, he would not have let you through. However, he would rather make it seem so yet allow you to return should you so wish to. He is hiding out elsewhere for the moment while drawing everyone's attention here to throw us off of his location. If he was there, I should have been able to follow your passing since he would have been controlling the ward. It is automatic, meaning he is not there."

"Ah," Orthani exhaled, still not following the intricate explanation. "Well, sorry. You will have to continue your search without me. I'm afraid sleeping on such a tiny, uncomfortable cot has left me less than well rested, so if you will excuse me." She turned her back to Thor as she reached for the door's handle.

"Then do sleep. The more rest you receive, the quicker your injuries shall recover."

She nodded and was about to open the door when something popped into her head that seemed rather strange about what had just happened. "Thor, before you leave, answer me this. Why would Loki put a ward on a room he isn't even in?"

Thor shrugged. "Normally it is to hide something of his inside or for his own amusement. I suspect it is one of the two."

She nodded. "Right. Thank you." She swiftly opened the door and let herself inside.

His room was dark since the sun was on the opposite side of the palace. The only light that was being let in was through the balcony doors.

She knew he was there. He had nothing to hide in their royal chambers and he was far from the mischievous mood with the injuries he had. He had to be there.

She felt a breeze swirl through his room and followed the source around the corner to the bed to find the balcony door just to the right of the mattress open. The orange glow of the sunrise cast a strange hue on the walls, which made an uneasy feeling grow at the pit of her stomach.

"Loki?" she barely called out as hushed as she could. If he was there, startling him was the last thing she wanted to do and since she was known for her ability to hide in even the slightest shadow, that wouldn't be hard to do accidentally. She grabbed at the fabric covering her chest and held it tighter to her chest as she moved around the edge of the bed and crept towards the open door.

She peaked out from behind the door and what she saw made her heart drop. He was sitting on the ground, knees bent with his arm hanging off one while he stared at his discolored blue one with slightly parted lips. The sleeve of his coat had been rolled up to his elbow, and even then she could tell the discoloration extended well past that. His brows creased his forehead and his eyes were fixated on the patterns running up his arm, he studying them as if they were consuming him. His eyes looked slightly bloodshot and glassed with an emotion she couldn't dare begin to describe.

He looked…terrified almost; beaten, broken to the point where he was cowering in the corner of the balcony with a helpless expression written on his face. He looked as though he was afraid to look away from the affliction in fear that if he did, it would suddenly take over him completely

"Loki?" she uttered softly though slightly louder than before.

She watched as he clenched his blue fist and twisted his arm to stare at the back of his hand. His eyes were darting back and forth between his wrist and his forearm as if he was trying to make it magically vanish. "Why won't it go away?" he muttered, his voice conveying the innocent childlike fear deep within his soul. His voice was unsteady and had lost its roughness; every ounce of anger had been washed from him and left him in fear of his true identity.

His eyes flitted up to catch her gaze and she felt her heart screech to a halt. The childish innocence in his eyes absolutely paralyzed her. It was such an innocent fear; fear as a child who had watched a parent die and wonder why they won't wake up, or a child who had wondered why his father and mother would ever abandon them.

For a brief moment she wondered if this was the same look he had in his eyes when he first discovered his true parentage, but then that thought was gone when she saw him twist his arm back so that his palm was facing him and he roughly pull his sleeve down over the sapphire blue skin.

She rushed out to him and got to her knees as she approached him, sitting to his right where his Jotun skinned arm was apparently staring back at him with such a terrifying effect. The look on his face was unnerving to her since she hadn't ever seen him in such a broken state before.

"It shouldn't be staying; it should not have replaced what has been hiding it for so long. Why hasn't it vanished as it should have," he said desperately, his eyes not leaving his frostbitten hand as he clamped the cuff of his leathered sleeve at his wrist with his other hand.

She didn't have any idea as to what to say to him. His gaze refused to be pulled away from the sapphire colored hand and it had him locked in such an unstable state that she feared she would say something that would send him into a furious rage. The only thing she knew to do was to curl up beside him and press her cheek to his shoulder, and that she did. She put a hand gently on his bicep and curled her fingers around his muscle loosely as she simply sat next to him in silence as he came to terms with his fate. She watched in absolute heartache as he squinted his eyes shut and clenched his fists tighter than he already was, his head shaking lightly in his denial.

He had once thought that killing Laufey would have erased his last ties with Jotunheim, but here it stood before him, mocking him and snidely reminding him he had almost been bested by a decaying Chitaurian commander with a magical staff. How weak; how pathetic was he. He had a lapse of fear when he had discovered this ailment wouldn't leave him by his will, but now he was slowly reeling in his slipped misjudged actions.

He snapped. He did not want this woman's comfort, nor did he want anyone's comfort at all. He wanted to be isolated like he wished to be from the beginning.

"Get out," he whispered, a growl lacing with his words. He roughly snapped his shoulder away from her before swiftly standing to his feet, his once irrational fear turning into rage by the second.

"Wha-" she squeaked as she watched him get to his feet. She stood up and took ahold of his arm only to have him swirl around and invade her personal space; he glowered over her, his nose inches away from hers as a snarl curled on his lips.

"Get. Out." He growled in her face just before he glided past her and back into the darkness of their living quarters.

Her heart froze. She had made the wrong move in remaining silent. "I can't just leave you after you-"

"OUT!" he spun around and spat at her from half way across the room. "LEAVE! Go. NOW." His voice went from outrageously loud to rather soft with every word. His face was half engulfed in darkness, but she could still make out the furiousness of his snarl. "I do not know how you managed to bypass the wards I have put up around this room; I do know, however, that I would much rather be left in solitude. Now get out," he glowered dangerously at her.

As much as she would have loved to dash out of that room in fear of that one look in his eyes, she knew that she had gotten through that ward for a reason. As much as he didn't want to admit it, she knew he needed her there.

"No," she said firmly, crossing her arms over her chest and leaning against the door of the balcony. She saw his jaw clench in anger and she knew she was walking a nonexistent line of safety at that moment.

"I am in no mood for your child's play, Orthani. Your company is not needed, nor is it wanted. Leave," he said as collectively as he could. He knew she was only doing this because she cared, but he knew that if she stayed, whatever cruel and spiteful things he could say to her in the midst of his psychotic rage would only drive her even further away from him. He could feel his anger slipping from his control towards a psychotic mania that would only end in disaster.

"No."

He snarled in anger at her failure to see to his reasoning before stalking over to the leather couch just in front of the unlit fireplace. She watched as he walked, moving out of her sight as he left her standing in that doorway.

"Why must you always turn so spiteful every time I try and help you?" he heard the faint whisper from the bedroom as she entered back into the room and softly shut the balcony door behind her.

_For your own protection,_ the thought raced through his mind. _I would rather not watch myself corner you as an animal for slaughter as I once did before in my anger and wrath; for once I lose my control, there is no gaining it back._

"Are you honestly that blatantly ignorant?" The words stung his lips as he spoke them. "You refuse to do as you are told and then you wonder why I turn my shoulder to you?" he scoffed at her.

Her jaw tightened at his words. Oh no. She wasn't going to take his spiteful jabs thrown at her this time. The last time she only managed to calm him down by the fact that she knew what had upset him: she had gone to his mother when he needed her, craved her comforting touch as he was locked back into a cell. Every situation that unnerved him, he went to Orthani for her comforting words to ease his chaotic mind; yet here he was tossing her presence around as if it didn't even matter to him. She wasn't going to take it. Not this time. Their relationship and connection almost ended in ruins the last time she had stood up to him so bravely; she wasn't going to risk that this time. This instance was far too beyond her control for her to risk losing that battle.

"After all I've done for you; after everything I have become for _your_ sake. If you are going to insult my intelligence and my very existence simply to get me to leave the room, then well done." She started towards the door, keeping her head low and her feet moving at a brisk pace.

His anger dropped momentarily when he heard the hurt in her voice, and that made every ounce of fury in him change. He had not even thought about the words he had so carelessly flung towards her; and though he knew it was spiteful, he didn't think she'd consider herself worthless in his eyes as she had just done. He swiftly stood up from his seat and glided over to the door before she could reach it and blocked her exit, making her stop in her tracks.

She studied the look in his eyes as best she could in the darkness of the room. He was still furious, that was unmistakable. So why was he suddenly taking back his orders?

"Loki, will you stop this madness," she whispered, folding her arms across her chest.

"Not until you-"

"ENOUGH!" she shrieked, making him jump at the sudden shrill scream that burst through the silence. He had brought her to her breaking point; this was the limit to the extent of his insanity that she would take from him. "I don't want to fight you! I'm sorry I've intruded on you when you obviously want to be left alone! I'm sorry I care for you too much to the point I feel like I have to try and help you when all it does is destroy everything! I'm sorry that I love you so much that I try and get you to talk to me so that you won't have to live through this mental torture alone. Now move aside." Her shrills grew softer with every sentence, ending in a harsh whisper once she spoke the last word.

He didn't move; he simply stared her down as he watched her eyes start to well. He wanted her to see right through this demonic monster and break him; free him from this vile creature he had become. He wanted her to see through this frightening glare he was giving her as she had a month prior when he had been released from his prison. He might have not wanted her company, but the fact of the matter was that he was better off with her womanly charm taming the animal he had become. As much as his Jotun blood scared him into absolute madness, she could get him to recede back to the mindset he was in before this entire mess came to pass. Sure he had kept mostly to himself up until then, but he unequivocally missed the side to her that complimented his wickedly devilish mania that the God of Mischief was notoriously famous for.

He needed her to gain back that last sliver of sanity he once had.

"Move aside," she demanded once more.

He stayed put, giving her that deathly glare as he had before. She went to brush past him, but he shuffled with her to keep her from getting behind him to the door and grabbed both of her arms in the process to keep her from getting away from him.

That was when he heard her wince and inhale sharply through gritted teeth. She recoiled from his touch and forcibly snatched her arm out of his hand as she gave a small yelp of pain. He quickly realized his mistake; his Frost Giant skin had left her arm just below her wrist so chilled, it left her frostbitten not just on the surface, but deep underneath as well.

He glanced down at his hand before staring at her, frozen to his spot. That was the first time he had seen genuine fear deep within her eyes in quite a while.

He snapped his eyes shut and shook his head faintly as he felt everything in his mind shut off. He inhaled deeply as he calmed himself down and erased every previous thought from his mind, briefly flicking his hands out in front of him as he let a flustered and forced smile flash across his lips. He could hear her panting breaths directly in front of him, but before he could bring himself to say or do anything else, he simply walked past her. He slowly walked back to where he once sat before he had bolted to the door.

She watched him retract from her and briskly walk past her. She clutched the wound at her arm as she let out a hiss, it now extremely cold to the touch. She could feel the cold radiating down to her bones and she realized just how dangerous his Jotun form could be. She knew he hadn't meant to do it and he was just trying to get her to help sort out his scrambled chaotic mind, but by god did it hurt.

"Leave if you must," his cool voice floated across the room. She turned to look towards him and struggled to ignore the frozen pain searing in her arm at the moment. "I cannot stop you. If you walk through that door, then there is no guarantee that I will let you through that ward again and if by chance I do, then I cannot guarantee you that I will be of sound mine when you so choose to return," he muttered from under his breath all the way across the room. "As angry and vile as I have been towards you before, you have not once left my side. Must you honestly break your pristine record and start that habit now?"

She bit her lip and hung her head. She had no idea what she should do at that moment.

"Then why did you so fiercely try and make me break that streak before only to now beg me to stay?" she winced, holding in the moan of pain threatening to escape her lips.

She watched his head suddenly turn to her, snapping to the side so quick it made her jump. He still had that frightening look in his eyes.

"Do I look to be of sound mind to you?" he raised his voice slightly, a sneer lightly flashing across his lips. "Do I look to be anything other than contrite in spirits? Look at the revolting flaws on my face and tell me I do not seem anything but sane at the moment. Look at the monstrosity I have become and tell me that I am not currently living such a conflicted and conceited reality. Can you not see the mark on your arm caused by my hand and tell me that it was intentional? For if you can, then you must leave regardless of what you so wish; otherwise you may leave until this moment of pure chaotic insanity passes or you may stay at my side, but staying here and simply doing nothing of use is not an option."

She watched as he turned away from her, hunching in his seat so that he could rest his arms on his knees. He waited; waited for her to either walk up to him and take her place to his left as she rightfully belonged or for that door to click shut behind her.

* * *

**A/N: **Yeah, if you haven't noticed, I sorta threw the whole schedule thing out the window. It just wasn't working for some odd reason. I won't leave you guys hanging for any longer than a week, I promise; it's just that apparently these chapters are getting progressively longer and I would split them up, but there are some, like the next chapter I have typed up, that are just too involved to split into two or more chapters. SO. That being said.

That and I worry that I might cause a few of you to lose interest from time to time. For those who have stayed with me all the way through After the Fall up until this point and have put up with my heart wrenching disasters, THANK YOU SO MUCH and I love you all so! Especially those who have commented on just about every chapter since they've started reading; it is very much appreciated! Even if it's silly banter or just random talk and then a 'good chapter!' at the end, it really makes all the difference. I thank you all so much.

And I realized I missed two of the reviews from two chapters ago. I'M SORRY. I didn't even see them until after I already posted, but I'll answer them right now!

**domonation: **Aw, thank you!

**Asmos: **That would probably be the next update, chapter 17. I promise all feels shall be repaired.

**VChrisi: **Haha, oh just you wait. The next chapter is critical, and then yeah. He'll be fine. =) Just wait until the ending, though. It'll all be good.

Though the emotional stuff will be a bit at a lesser extreme until a bit later. I've realized the past few chapters barely had any dialogue and it was all me just toying with heartstrings. v.v No more really heavy stuff when it comes to emotional torture for a bit.

**TheMagentaColor: **It's still a 'poor Loki' chapter. x.x I need to stop doing this to myself. xD

**Psyren: **-takes bow- Why thank ya. I do try, not to make you guys cry, but to develop characters and such that people can relate to and grow attached to so that when I do actually put them in those situations, then people feel bad and don't say "Oh...that's nice."

**chuckythecat: **She's there now! Loki's just kinda...muddled a bit. =/ Trust me, I had such a difficult time writing these chapters because while he's still in character, he wasn't really himself throughout the entire thing. It is extremely difficult to pull something like that off for me, I swear I just about drove myself crazy. x.x

**Cat-Natty: **Well, it's kinda crucial for the story, I'm sorry to say. x.x Everything will become clear(er) next chapter.

And no, the war is far from over. It's gonna get interesting, that I can assure you.

**GoldBee: **Thank you so very much, lovely!

**The Red Dove: **Oh wow! Gosh, I can't imagine going through college with a kid during these times. x.x With college tuition costing almost about as much as it costs to raise a kid yearly, I can only imagine how difficult that must've been. I can barely focus on classes as is, and I still live at home because I'd be screwed otherwise.

OH! And I saw your review on my friend's chapter there. x) (I'm not stalking, I swear. I just saw it as a passing thing.) She did get my permission. She and I, since we've been doing a small amount of collab work between our two stories, we've been beta reading each other's chapters before we post them, sending them over via Skype and checking over characterization and such, so it's all good. When I say we're besties, I really mean it; we're determined to be writing buddies for life because we can get ideas flowing really easily just by bouncing stuff off each other. So it's all good! I'm gonna have her character at least a confirmed 2 more times in this story, so it'll be fun. Ok, sorry. That mini rant (or whatever you would call it) is done. Continue on with your life!


	17. The Master of Deception

Loki's eyes drifted shut as he heard the door click shut to his right. She had left without a single word; no explanation why or when, let alone if she would return. He knew not if he had scared her to the point of leaving or if he had caused her to question him, but that didn't matter at that point. He had managed to frighten her to the point where she left him in his worst possible condition; a condition he truly could have used her by his side to help his mind begin to think straight once again.

He exhaled heavily as he stood up and walked out to the balcony. He leaned against the railing and hung his head as his mind slowly swirled in its unbound chaos. He couldn't think straight, nor did he want to think at all. He feared the worst should he let his mind so wander dangerously into his insanity and started ripping through things that shouldn't be tampered with at that moment.

He put his head in his hands only to quickly withdraw them when he felt his Asgardian exterior melt away to his Jotun form when his hand ran across his forehead. He couldn't even run his fingers through his hair without risking this strange affliction spreading and possibly not receding until a cure was found. He was slightly relieved when he felt the skin of his forehead he had so carelessly touched with his Frost Giant stained hand slowly fade away.

He was a danger to himself; how sickly cruel was the irony behind that.

He watched from his balcony as the sun slowly rose in the sky. He could feel the heat of the sun stinging his sapphire skin and causing its frozen exterior to prick and crawl from the rays. He didn't know how long it had been since Orthani had left his company, but he knew it was too long for his liking. The longer the moments ticked by that she did not walk back through that door, the more likely she was to not come back to him until he had gotten ahold of himself. The moment he realized this, he shook his head as he felt something roar in his chest. He suppressed the snarl threatening to break through his calm and collected exterior and tried to push the infuriating thought from his mind. He did, after all, bring this upon himself; if he was to deal with this monster by his lonesome, then he would do so.

After a while of fighting his manic urges to think on everything that had just come to pass, he closed his eyes and forced his mind to go blank long enough so that he could attempt to clear his head of the chaos and madness that had scrambled his thinking. He was able to settle his raging demons down long enough to think without them getting out of his control, though he was still dangerously irritated. He knew his calmness wouldn't last for long, for his mind would soon reign back to his psychotic insanity if he didn't find a way to get away from this inner turmoil. He would soon go back to wishing to kill the first person who stepped back through his door if he didn't calm the anxious ticks in his chest.

He breathed in through his nose and exhaled through parted lips, dispelling more of his uneasiness from his body in the process. He felt his mind slowly losing his otherwise disorganized thoughts and emotions. As he soon realized he was calming his demons, he let his thoughts linger on then one thing he knew without a doubt would calm his mind and allow him to regain his ultimate control over them: the woman he had so foolishly let walk out of his chambers.

He honestly hadn't meant to hurt her as he did; it seemed unfair to him, how a single touch could damage something so much in a split second's time to where it had become more than anyone could handle. He was truly cursed. Not only could he not wrap his arms around his ever-loyal companion, but he had also run her off in trying to get her to break his anger spell. Even though she seemed mostly unaffected by whatever pain it might have caused her, he also knew her enough to realize that hiding her physical pain behind a straight face was something she had always been good at. She could have been in agony on the inside and he wouldn't have known it.

It made him sick to his stomach. He would have left his room to attempt to seek her out, but he was too disgusted with the affliction on his face to bring himself to leave his room. He would simply have to wait until she decided to return, if that was in her addendum whatsoever. There had been too many of Asgard's populace that had seen his compromised exterior; he refused to go parading through the palace full of his father's people as well and make the situation even worse for himself.

* * *

When Orthani let the door click shut behind her, she bit her lip to avoid crying out from the sting in her arm. The pain that radiated from her arm was a sharp, frozen spearing that seemed to burn through her arm all the way up to her shoulder. She could feel it down to her bones; the frostbitten mark having frozen her skin the moment Loki grabbed her with his Jotun skin. She made the realization that he must have grabbed her with a death vice to accomplish such a deep set burn through her skin. Even through the denser Asgardian skin, he managed to nearly freeze her arm all the way through to the bone.

God, did it hurt.

She was trying her best not to let a sound escape her throat. She had left Loki's room to hide the damage he had done to her. The moment he would have laid eyes on the cringe written on her face, it would have only made him fall into a state worse than what he was in; possibly even left him guilt ridden if not angry at himself for letting that happen. She hadn't left for any other reason other than to keep him from losing even more of his mind than he already had, but if she made any noise, it wouldn't have mattered. He would still know and still react in a way that was unknown to her.

Her fist clenched into tight balls as she tried to take the pain as silently as she could. She stood out in the middle of the hall, hunched over and head hung low as she felt the frozen burn loose some of its intense cold. She fell to her knees and clutched her arms to her stomach as she curled to the ground, still managing to not let any sound escape her lips.

_He didn't mean to do this,_ she thought to herself as her eyes squinted shut. _If it wasn't for this entire event, we wouldn't even be in this situation right now. _She couldn't bring herself to hate him over this; there was no rational reason as to why he would have done this to her on purpose and then reacted the way he did when he realized what happened. This was his life; everything he touched, he seemed to hurt or destroy and make the circumstances worse for himself. He had tried to protect the realm from Thor's barbaric rule and had ended up causing such a mess that made him look as the villain when he truly had the best intentions a God of Mischief could have buried in his heart. He had tried to get the commander of the enemy army to stand down and wound up beaten within inches from death with an affliction that tore at his mentality to the point the Loki she knew could no longer take the stress any longer.

He hadn't wanted her to leave; he wanted her to realize he wasn't in his right mind and had caused her injury. Even she wasn't cruel enough to point the blame on him for that no matter how malicious others claimed him to be.

She waited for the intensity of the pain to drop considerably before cracking an eye open to look at the damage done. Her frostbitten arm was no longer searing from the cold as her body rushed to raise her core temperature in order to thaw out the frozen skin and muscles. Her skin had been colored a sickly navy blue where Loki's hand had wrapped around her arm just below her wrist and without any sort of leather to protect her from the brunt of the inflicted pain, it had sunk below just the surface of her skin.

She exhaled softly and stood up slowly. She swiped at her cheeks swiftly just to get rid of any stray tears of pain that had managed to leak from her eyes before grabbing the handle to Loki's room.

She froze, suddenly realizing that Loki might not even want her there anymore. She had walked out on him, and though it was to save him from seeing the aftermath of what he had done to her, she highly doubted he would see it that way.

_Then again, he will be angrier at me should I not return to him. _She had to return to him. As manic and psychotic as he could get at times, she knew it was only a product of so many things happening at the same time: hanging on the thread of death, being inches away from being defeated within the first battle, almost losing most of his family in the very same battle; he could only take so much until he broke from the pressure. He surely would understand the fact that she needed to step out to regain her breath, right?

She hoped so. She turned the handle as quietly as she could; for it would be her luck that he would refuse to let her back in should he hear her coming. She opened the door just wide enough to allow her to slip in and close the door behind her. She let her eyes grow accustom to the darkness surrounding her just long enough to realize that Loki was no longer sitting on the couch where he was before she stepped out; she figured that since he had yet to say something to her, he wasn't even aware of her return wherever he might have been.

She inhaled deeply and then gave a brief exhale, causing all of the candles around his room to suddenly spark to life and illuminate the room in a golden glow. When she saw that he was indeed no longer in the lounge of his chambers, she silently tiptoed over to his bed to see the balcony door had once again been opened. She crept over to the door and saw him standing with his back to her and him leaning against the rail. He hadn't yet moved so she assumed that he wasn't aware that she had walked back in. She silently crept up to him without a sound and lightly put a hand on his back just below the puncture wound running through his left shoulder, almost instantly feeling his muscles tense and tighten under her hand.

Loki had been lost in thought up until that moment when he felt something barely touch his back. He tensed under the feather light touch that he felt through his leather coat and his eyes flew open as he attempted to gain a sense of who was behind him though he knew perfectly well who was there.

He could feel either fear or uncertainty in that simple touch along with a mass of other disorderly emotions that he couldn't get a clear read from her. She was standing just off to his left, keeping him at an arms-length as if she expected him to snap or lunge at her. He could sense her fear of his rage; he had truly managed to scare her in the midst of his mental breakdown and he hadn't meant to.

_So if I have frightened her, why has she returned?_

"You cannot keep changing your mind, Orthani," he spoke softly, not even bothering to glance over his shoulder to see the look on her face. "You have already chosen your decision, now leave me once more."

She didn't answer him and instead took a step closer to him. He felt the touch on his back gain a sense of assurance as if she was more confident in herself. That didn't stop the mere fact that he could sense the uneasiness running through her.

"I have struck fear within your core; there is no use trying to hide it. I can sense it from leagues away. If I can feel your fear of me, do you honestly think that it will better the situation at hand?" he muttered, still not daring to turn and face her.

"I do not fear you, I only fear what might become of you should you remain in such a state to where you start to lose your mind," he heard her whisper.

He closed his eyes and resisted the urge to pull her to him. He couldn't touch her; he didn't want to risk losing himself in her only to place another mark on her skin. He didn't want to touch her and expose her to this monster others had created of him any more than he already had.

His senses sharpened when he felt her hand run down his back as she walked over to his other side. His eyes snapped open when she hooked her hand on his uninjured shoulder and out of the corner of his eye, he saw her swiftly place the gentlest of kisses on his jaw of the unafflicted side of his face.

Immediately his jaw clenched as he suddenly froze. He wanted to pull away from her as to keep her away from him but at the same time wished to move his head to the side to catch her lips with his and receive that comforting reassurance from her that he hadn't yet pushed her past her limitations. His conflicted mind caused him to remain completely still as he fought over how he should react to her. Though it was all over in a split second, and the next thing he knew, she placed her hand at the back of his neck and grazed her thumb lightly over his cheek. Then he didn't feel her at all; she had walked back and retreated back into their quarters without another word spoken to him. He glanced over his shoulder as he watched her walk away from him.

"Don't." The word left his lips before he could stop it from escaping. He watched her stop and look over her shoulder, the look in her eyes causing an uneasy feeling to creep into his chest and making him quickly glance away from her.

"Why must you be so conflicted?" he heard her whisper, it barely audible to him.

He shut his eyes briefly as he contemplated an answer, he not quite knowing himself. "I do not wish to hurt you once more," he breathed as his eyes opened once more, knowing very well that she couldn't hear him.

"Pardon?"

"I do not wish to touch you in fear of causing you pain, yet I long to have you in my grasps for the mere fact that that you seem to miraculously drive away the chaos surrounding my mind at the moment," he suddenly stated firmly. "I do not wish to have you here in fear of snapping so violently at you as I have once before; though I know that if you leave my side, I very well might utterly lose my mind without your words until I can face everything that has come to pass in such a short amount of time. You affect me more than I will ever care to admit aloud; that fact alone is enough to put me in a worse state just trying to discover if I need you more than I worry over your safety," he spoke as if he was forcing the words to leave his throat.

Orthani immediately saw that he was going against everything in his nature; that's how distraught this had made him. He wasn't begging her to stay or demanding her to leave this time; he was begging to have her rework his state of mind and help him get back to his normal self without all the strife and stress from a universal war caused by his misjudgments weighing so heavily on his mind. The last time he had broken down due to his true identity being brought to the surface, he had made all the wrong choices. Everything he did made him appear as the villain and he was responsible for everything happening at this very moment. He had no idea what to do at this point and it was driving him into absolute madness.

She felt her heart drop when she heard desperation in his voice. That was his way of saying he needed her there more than anything else at that moment. He needed that loyalty in her to prove her trust to him; to talk him into what was considered normal for him before he did something that could destroy any hope for the universe to survive until the end of this war.

"Come on inside and talk to me then, Loki," she spoke barely over a whisper. She watched as his shoulders suddenly tense as he drew them in and she gave a cringe.

_Well that wasn't even close to the proper thing to say, apparently. _

She exhaled quietly and stepped towards him. When she got to his side, she hooked her hand around his bicep and curled her fingers around his arm, nudging him gently to get him to follow her. His head snapped to her, a snarl faintly plastered on his lips. She raised her brow at him as their gazes locked with each other and he slowly lost his sinister glower he had given her. She felt him relax as he slowly straightened his back and gestured her to lead on with a sense of reluctance behind his movements. She gently led him by his arm back inside and over to the couch where he had sat before, the fireplace now lightly snapping and crackling just in front of the small wooden table that rose maybe two feet off the ground placed just in front of the couch.. She walked him over to the side and then suddenly let go, and he watched as she went to shut the balcony door.

"Well, are you going to tell me what utter madness is causing such a fiasco or no?" she spoke as she walked back over to him.

He gave an amused scoff before lightly rolling his eyes and sitting down on the couch, being mindful of what still left him crippled to an extent.

She exhaled. "Well that definitely worked," she said sarcastically as she jumped onto the back of the couch and sat down beside him. "Oh come now, Loki. Speak to me," she spoke hushed as she reached out to run her fingers lightly through his hair.

He gave her another light scoff as he suppressed a shiver that would have shot down his spine from the light touches of her nails gently raking at his scalp. "It is not that simple, my dear," he shook his head as he leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees, his eyes staring into the crackling fire as it drew him into a mesmerizing daze. "There are far too many complications and misleading factors that have plagued my mind; ones that are too delicate to discuss."

He was only telling the truth; when it came to this war, there were far too many variables that were out of his control. He still didn't quite know what he wanted to gain out of this war either; how was he to know what to do if he still had no idea what outcome he wished to see from it? His Jotun skin was only the half of his mental disarray and once he had calmed that outburst down, he still was in a more silent hysteria over how he was intended to handle bringing Thanos to his downfall.

"Then how about you start with speaking on the pieces that aren't so delicate?" she said softly, still lightly combing her fingers through his hair in a way that didn't mess up his slicked back locks. "Why are you even taking on such an enormous task when you've obviously not prepared for it?"

He gave a light smirk. _She has always been able to see right through my masks and straight into the heart of my soul, the damnable woman. _"Must you always see right through the walls around me?" he bantered back with a low drone.

"You are the one who gave me everything I needed to see through them in the first place. You can't get angry at me when you've provided me with what I needed to understand your mind as you do," she quickly pointed out.

He let a chuckle lightly rumble through his throat, but otherwise he remained silent for a moment until his thoughts were sorted out into comprehensible statements. "I see no reason to continue fighting this war," he finally spoke softly as though he feared someone eavesdropping in on them. "We will all simply die anyways. Thanos has proven he is the more powerful over us all; he will always be one step ahead of us no matter what we so plan simply because of how he is capable of determining every step his opponent takes by listening to those I surround myself with. He is a mastermind. He can read the thoughts of those who leave them unprotected; every step I make to ensure of his demise, he will prepare for before we can even get our plans in motion. It is a lost cause; I should have seen so much earlier than this."

Orthani listened to him as he spoke, hearing the defeat in his voice.

"It is a war not worth fighting for."

"It is if there is but one soul willing to fight for it," she said smartly.

He gave a light smile as he exhaled quickly through his nose, shaking his head lightly as well. "If only it were that simple."

"Loki, you know more about the Tesseract than all of us combined. You have not only been to the realm he resides in, but you have also fallen under his command whether it was reluctant or not. You know more about our opponent than anyone here," she spoke as she watched him grab a switchblade sitting at the corner of the mahogany cocktail table just in front of his knees and started to flick the blade into the wood, pull it out, and then do it again and adding to the grooves already dug into that side of the table. "You could win this war by pure intelligence and misdirection should you so choose to; you're capable of that and far beyond that which you believe yourself to be capable of."

"Even if I was to concoct a brilliant plan, no one would dare trust the Jotun who is a God of master deception and trickery. I have already sided with Thanos on a previous occasion regardless of Thor's belief that I had been under Thanos' influence of mind control," he said smoothly without a second of hesitation. "And they have good reasons to not trust me with the universe. I was very well aware of what I was doing despite the conspiracies my father has sent floating about that I had been so weak in mind that I let another control me from realms away. If I have sided with him once before, of course they should be wary should I decide that this war isn't for our side to win."

She gazed at his emotionless face as he sunk the blade into the wood once more. "Well I trust you. Anyone else vain enough to not trust the one man who has every answer as to what we are being faced with is daft; and if that just so happens to be everyone surrounding you, then maybe the universe doesn't deserve to live on."

He scoffed after a moment of silence. "Of course; the universe deserves to be baptized by fire simply because no one could bring themselves to trust the God of Mischief, the God of Lies and deceit. The Prince of Asgard whose entire life has been built and structured upon the very thing he has a god's title of; the very one person no one should trust." He stopped speaking when he sunk the blade into the table with more force than he intended, wedging it deep into the wood. He didn't bother to pull it free this time. "The moment I try and do anything needed to place the war back into our favor, I will be called out for treason and returned to my cell. My very own father accused me of hiding this army from Heimdall's gaze after you sent that flare in the sky; something I had no part of was put onto my shoulders and then he refused to take responsibility of his own forces and defend his city until I removed him from power against his will."

She pursed her lips and exhaled roughly.

"I don't even have knowledge as to what I even want from this war," he gave a half-hearted shrug as he reached out, grabbled the switchblade by the hilt and pried it from the wood only to throw it back to the table and cause a groove just as deep as the previous one. "It surely isn't to save the ones who have made me become such a monster by treating me as such; that if for certain."

"Then do it to get what you want," Orthani answered him lightly, removing her hand from his hair and gently running it down his back as she drew it to her side. When she saw him turn his head to give her a curious look with his brows pulled together and his eyes questioning what she meant, she gave a partial shrug. "Most of the leaders who start wars back on Earth do so because they see a personal gain. Hitler wanted world domination, though I guess that isn't the best example seeing as though he lost. The Americans wanted to be free from Great Britain; the Roman Empire wished to control the entirety of the countries developed at the time. The North wished to have more political control over the South, and the South wished to have their own confederation due to the lack of political say. The Hutu and Tutsi have had conflicts dating back a century ago when one leader overthrew another for power, and they have resorted to genocide against their own people."

"The difference between war to humans and war to gods is that when we seek war, it is for the safety of the realms. Politics is the least of our worries," Loki mused lightly as he turned back towards the fireplace and pried the switchblade from the wooden table.

"Well forgive me for trying," she said sarcastically.

"I did say it was far more complicated than it seemed, did I not?" he chuckled lightly.

"How's it you stop letting others toss you about and misuse you and stand up for yourself for once-"

Loki felt his jaw clench as the lightheartedness in the room suddenly fell. "Consider the fact I have a blade in my hand and think on whether or not you wish to retract that statement; how dare you so claim I am that spineless of a man." He curled his fingers around the handle of the blade and held it out to his side to show her he was no longer messing about.

"I never said you were spineless; I said that people misuse you. I refuse to retract that statement seeing as though it is the truth," she said bravely as she ran her fingers lightly through her hair. A dangerously low growl left his throat and she rolled her eyes. "The fact that you've gotten angry at it simply proves that you know it just as well as I."

"Must you throw it so harshly at me as if it doesn't sting," he hissed, turning the blade in his hand so that it pointed down in his clenched fist and he brought his arm up across his chest.

"I never said it was a bad thing, Loki," she smiled. She knew him better than to fall for his act. He wouldn't hurt her; he had already done so. He hadn't the heart to do so again.

When he threw the blade into the table again, it made a loud thunk as it dug itself into the wood at an angle a good ways across the table. She chuckled and rolled her eyes as she swung her legs over and hopped off the back of the couch. "Consider this: maybe we were so close to losing simply because you are going against that which you do best," she spoke as she padded across the room over to the vanity dresser in the same area as his bed and pulled a dark wood display case off from the top shelf. "You followed your father's form of warfare. Let us all beat the enemy to a pulp when they are seemingly indestructible until we find a way to defeat them; such a marvelously thought out plan."

Loki hid the snarl on his lips at her words. She was stepping over the line this time; never had she actually vaguely insulted his intelligence as she was. "Watch your tongue, you unruly quim," he growled.

"I don't jest; I simply mean to prove a point. No need for harsh words," he heard her call out from behind him. "If anything, it was ignorance on your father's behalf. He should have taken control of his army instead of handing you the reins. You and I know you are no war general who rushes into battle with his men," she spoke as she retrieved that which she was searching for and returned to him, this time sitting on the cushions beside him instead of on the back of the couch.

_Has she honestly taken to jesting me as the others have done? What manner of betrayal is this?_ He thought as she jumped over the back of the couch to sit beside him. He refused to even give her a simple glance.

"I know you are not in the best of states as of now, but will you listen to me before you look at me with those threatening eyes," she said as she pushed herself so that there was hardly any space between them where they sat. "I was once told by an extremely intelligent and talented man, one who knew far beyond that which he truly let others believe him to be a useless fool, that whilst running rampant, brutally attacking an opponent into submission is effective, it was also a ruthless, talentless skill," she said. He watched as she leaned forward and placed her left hand on the table in front of her. He furrowed his brow and suddenly realized that she had her four small, thin and very dangerous triangular throwing stars perched precariously in between her fingers as if they were claws. Those were the stars that she had kept in a glass case the moment Loki had given them to her for her own usage; otherwise they would have kept collecting dust on his bookshelves for months. They were sharpened to the point that they could slice through the toughened Asgardian skin as if it was human and could cleave a finger clean off if one wasn't careful.

"What in Valhalla do you think you are doing?" He gave her a wild expression of confusion, his eyes somewhat wider than they normally would be.

"What, would you rather me to use your hand to demonstrate or no?" she looked over to him and gave him an innocent smile. "There was a powerful sorcerer who once told me, long before when I was simply a useless, defenseless and ignorant girl just tagging along with a villain simply for the thrill of it all, that silent killers and strategic planning were more effective than your Asgardian warriors," she continued, holding each of the throwing stars in between her fingers by the edges. "That very same sorcerer also said that precision-" She suddenly flicked her wrist, sending one of the stars hurling into the wood of the table, managing to get it to land in between her first and middle finger of the hand that was pressed to the table top in a gap that was mere centimeters wide. Loki scarcely jumped. "Accuracy," She did the same thing again, landing the second star in a different gap; one between her middle and third finger. "Paired with both speed and power," she quickly released the third one and landed it perfectly between her third and fourth fingers, all having such a little margin for error that if she had made one small misjudgment, she would have sliced her finger clean off. "-if put into the right and able hands of someone, can be the deadliest form of battle."

His slightly frantic look faded into one of contemplation as he listened to her speak. He was quoting him, definitely not word for word but it was close enough.

"It takes nothing but motivation-"

"-to run into battle and start bashing away at your opponent; but it takes skill…" he spoke with her, yet trailed off mid thought.

"-discipline and practice to eliminate them with one simple strike," she finished with a smile on her face.

He had looked away from her, his face suddenly showing signs of his mind kicking into gear and whirring back to life as his eyes darted around in thought.

"Don't do what your father wishes to see you do. You will fail attempting to win this war by brute force; that is what Thanos would be expecting of you. You are a mastermind in deception, one of the most powerful sorcerers in all of Asgard, and the most intelligent man I have ever met. If you stop letting your father dictate your every action and make your own decisions in this war without his guidance, then we might have a chance at winning this war," she said quietly, toying with the fourth star in her hand gingerly.

He broke his concentration for a brief moment to speak with her. "If we go about this war with utilizing my strengths, not only will the Allfather see it as being misleading, but he will view every one of my actions as treason; I do so believe that what you say is not an option."

"Who said you had to tell anyone of your plans?" She gave a partial shrug. "Your father gave you the power to lead this war; don't ruin this with following his expectations of you. You might be the God of Mischief, but if he is ignorant to remove you from this position he's given you because you are silently trying to bring us victory while keeping Thanos in the dark, then he would not be a very good king."

He wasn't listening to her at that moment; his mind was far from where he was at that moment. The gears in his mind were turning furiously as he was suddenly concocting a plan in his mind that was so delicately intricate that if one false misstep occurred, everything would collapse right before his eyes: a brilliant, beautiful and glorifying plan that could very well not only win him the war but bring upon him what he had been wanting from the very beginning and possibly more should he keep his cards close to his chest; to be considered Thor's equal, to not have a throne to sit upon but yet to have those kneel before him as if he was their King and to have them give him the upmost respect he had been denied his entire life. His Jotun blood be damned, he was going to put himself so high up on a pedestal that no one would be able to reach him; he could become his brother's superior without even becoming King of Asgard. Of course, this plan depended on his masterful silver tongue and his insidious ways of never letting anyone know exactly what was happening, but he had done so plenty of times before. It was how he landed himself in this situation before; surely he could manage to blind everyone around him so that they wouldn't discover his intricate plot to grant him victory. It was a victory not necessarily over Thanos, but over his brother who had caused him such trouble in his past to bring him to this point in time.

The devil in him had finally been reawakened.

"That look in your eye is somewhat frightening," he heard Orthani's voice suddenly break into his trance and snap him back into his reality. She had seen the sudden spark in his emerald green eyes that told her he was back into his element; he had broken his spell of confusion and conflict and had kicked himself back into gear. The God of Mischief had definitely returned to the surface; this monster Jotun side of him had been kicked aside for his mastermind of intellect.

He looked over at her to see a perplexed look on her face.

"How far are you willing to go?" he asked her quietly.

She hesitated at his question. "What are you asking me, exactly?" she wisely spoke before jumping to an answer.

"If I was to truly use everything in my power to do exactly as you suggested; to take upon such an unpredictable and surreptitious mind to use every word of knowledge I have over Thanos and the Tesseract to start planning my own system of warfare, how far will you take your trust?" he explained.

"I will trust you only so long as you don't betray me," she smartly answered without hesitation that time.

He locked his gaze with her, keeping silent for a moment as he contemplated how to phrase his next inquiry. "And should I turn around and betray you?" he asked delicately, keeping careful as to what expressions leaked onto his face and how his voice sounded when he spoke.

"Then I will be the first to plunge a dagger directly to your heart the moment you do so," she answered. "And before you ask; yes, it _does _have to be that personal of a kill."

He gave a smirk. "I suspected as much, and for that I do not blame you. Might I say this: whatever I may say, whatever words leave my lips until the final day when we stand before our enemies, nothing will ever be as it seems when it pertains to this war and therefore do not be so adamant to judge that which is before you." He selected his words very deliberately.

She kept his gaze as her faint smile fell from her lips. "You will forewarn me if I will have to kill you in the end of all this, will you?" she asked, a concerned expression on her features. "If you are going to turn your back to the entire universe, will you at least inform me before you do so that I can actually prepare myself mentally for actually plunging a blade through your heart?"

He recoiled his head slightly at her reaction to his shady behavior. "You would honestly see to my death?"

He wasn't questioning her capability to do such a thing; she was perfectly capable and skilled enough to best him. He did, however, question her heart in allowing her to slay the man who not only gave her what she was at the present, but also showed her the most passionate and complicated love she wouldn't be able to replace should she manage to lead on his forces to victory after she managed to slay him.

She opened her mouth to say something but then quickly shut it, licking her lips before they snapped shut. She looked troubled, conflicted in her answer. "I cannot honestly say," she answered truthfully, her brow furrowed in indecision.

He watched her small inner turmoil over the question flash across her face and he tried to hide the small smile that threatened to play across his lips. He reached out with his unafflicted hand and grabbed her by the nape of her neck; he pulled her towards him so that he could place a kiss on her lips with a feather light touch, he being careful to not accidently burn her once more from the blue skin plagued across his left cheek.

She could feel the gentleness in that kiss, which was simply just a light touching of lips. It was like he was revealing to her exactly what his plan was in that one kiss; had he ever planned on outright leaving her to die fighting for the rest of the universe to live on, he would not have been able to muster up the gentle capturing of her lower lip that made her heart flutter in her chest.

If he betrayed her, he would betray a lover that he couldn't dare to let go of. If he was that cruel, then she wouldn't wish to stand beside him if he didn't want her; but that kiss told her, reassured her that she wouldn't have to.

He pulled away from her just moments after he had pulled her to him. "I would not put you in a situation where you will not be able to carry out a deed you cannot bring yourself to fulfill," he so cleverly worded his statement.

"Your way with words is absolutely terrifying," she shook her head lightly, almost scared at the fact that she trusted him so much at that point. His sudden ways of misleading misdirection were already making her doubt him ever so slightly. _He could have been tame as to not burn me, not because he was reassuring me of the fate of the both of us. _"You truly are a master of…" she shook her head, unable to think of the words she wished to say.

He smirked. "I have my reasons behind every action," he spoke softly, knowing his sly act wasn't helping to ease her doubt whatsoever. "Just know that I would never risk that which I have come to acquire. Your allegiance to me is one of which that I would never dare risk even if my life so depended on it," he spoke as he dropped her gaze and removed his hold on her.

She scoffed, "Of course, if your life bloody well depended on it, you would simply pretend it wasn't even bloody there, you numpty," she teased, bringing a small smile on his face.

"You know my true element all too well, my love," he bantered back, keeping his gaze locked to the mesmerizing fire. "You know me all too well."

* * *

**A/N: **Dun dun dun. I've awoken the mastermind, muhahahaha.

Anyways, I know I'm not updating as much as I used to and I'm sorry. I'm about to start with college classes once again and I'm in desperate need of a job as of late. I won't keep you all waiting more than 7 days, and since I have only one class on Tuesday/Thursday I'll probably get to write then. Either way, I'll still be updating, I promise.

And I'll try to stop with the incredibly long chapters. I know a lot of you probably check this in the middle of doing other stuff or real late at night and such and I know it probably gets annoying reading over 3000 words each update cause that kinda eats away at time.

Unless you guys are fine with it...

**moonstone6793: **Haha, aww. x) Thank you deary!

**MrsCullen123:**Haha, it'll be soon. Possibly by chapter 21. Chapter 19 will have a bit of a tease but the real deal won't come until after that chapter.

IT'LL BE SOON THOUGH. I can promise you that. They've had too many moments of tension for them not to go at each other at this point.

**Loki: **Yeeesss mi'lord. And thank you for such kind words; they do mean a lot coming from you I must add. I shall refrain from keeping you waiting for long. That I can assure you. ;P

**Pumpernickel: **It's not a problem, lovely. =) And thank you kindly. x)

**KiraMizuka: **Tumblr? O.o

**Asmos: **Oh don't worry, I thought the same thing when I was watching Thor and he froze the crap out of Heimdall. My ovaries were no more (Sorry, that's a Tumblr thing. If that sounded weird, I'm sorry. x.x)

And she seduced him with throwing knives, that's how she dragged him out of it. Only Orthani, right? xD

And why thank you! Holy crap, I'm just proud I've written a story worthy of being reread. That makes me happy. x) (I'm not gonna lie, LokixOrthani have become an OTP of mine. It feels slightly vain, but I can't help but adore those two.)

**xxyangxx2006: **I'm glad people accepted this side of him to be honest. x.x

**TheMagentaColor: **See? No more Loki pain. x) He'll be better relatively soon. I just had to awaken the devious monster deep in his soul that deems him God of Mischief, that is all.

I think you'll like the next chapter. He's kinda like how he was during the Avengers: absolutely in control of everything that happens while no one else realizes it. It'll be fun.

**Cat-Natty: **Yeah, it is random talk, but I always love random talkers. =) It gives me something to put at the end instead of leaving all of you guys off without another word said.

And I adore replying to every review. Every review I get, I appreciate so much. I don't really do it to keep people reviewing, I do it because I honestly want to thank everyone who took the time out to say something about the story whether it be good or bad. It takes a lot of time sometimes, that's for sure, but I wouldn't dare complain about that. I know some people reply with messages, but I feel like that's a bit too personal and it kinda puts pressure on people to continue the conversation, so I choose to reply to everyone at the end of each chapter because it's a bit more informal. That and it'll give me something to look forward to in reviews. It's more than just "Good update, continue on." It's a conversation. I will gladly take an extra 1500 words onto every chapter just to talk to you all. x)

**Jemma: **xD Well welcome aboard, lovely! Thank you so much and hopefully you enjoy the rest of it as I get it up.

**GoldBee: **Loki's so amazing to write, truly. His complexity is absolutely astounding and I couldn't help but want to dig into his mind a bit. x)

**VChrisi: **It was a bit slow, but it was necessary. I haven't really had time to sort of expound on the relationship between Loki and Orthani so this was really necessary in order to give him reason to treat her differently as the story goes on.

It sounds confusing, but I promise it's not. Loki's an evil genius in my mind who hasn't yet gotten the chance to use that mind so I kinda had to give him a wake up call to get him to actually use his brilliance to completely troll the universe.

That being said, it shouldn't be too slow as the past one was for awhile now.

**Kaidere: **That's what I try to do. =) If the words don't form an image in your head, then I have failed as a writer. x.x

And I know it seems somewhat tragic, but it's only to offset the ending. With great tribulation comes great glory and redemption. =) Keep that in mind as you continue reading. x)

I send all my love back to you and your friends for reading, and that also includes everyone else who have continued reading even after all this time.

**NikZiraxe: **Thank you lovely!

**The Red Dove: **Woah, that's seriously awesome. I've been watching a voice actor who does video game commentary on YouTube who is seriously awesome for maybe a year or two now and since then, I've always had a certain respect for voice actors. That is absolutely awesome.

Haha, yeah, she's not stealing any ideas. If anything, we give each other some brilliant ideas just talking to each other so we figured we can sorta bounce ideas off of each other and stuff.


	18. Sound of Madness

"Will you put those away before you add to your list of injuries?" Loki said as he looked to his left to see Orthani still toying with the last silver throwing star in her hand, balancing the small beveled neck in between her first and middle finger. She had already pulled a dangerous stunt by throwing them at her outstretched hand simply to prove a point; he didn't need her toying with the dangerously sharpened edges. "I gave you those in hopes to see you use them for your own amusement, seeing as though you enjoy sending blades slicing through throats; they weren't intended to be used to show off," he taunted her light-heartedly.

"Well then you shouldn't have given them to me," she chuckled. She reached out and plucked the other three from the table where she had tossed them to and placed them carefully in her palm.

"They would have remained in a state of collecting dust-"

"They still do. It's not like I can carry these around in my back pocket, now can I?" She stood up from the couch and walked back to place them in the display case she had retrieved them from.

He tilted his head to the side slightly; he had to give her that one. "And how are you fairing?" he inquired, referring to her injuries. "Dare I ask for the damage done or should I not bother with it?"

She smirked as she clicked the glass display open and started to place the still pristine silver throwing stars back into their case. "I've come back with less than you and I was out fighting bilgesnipe the entire day before the fight broke out; I think I've faired pretty well."

He forced himself to hold in a quick exhale and he stood up from the leather couch. He walked to the center of his enormously spacious room and exhaled as his mind still grinded on, creating every possible move of every possible opponent and ally he could have in this war and calculating the outcomes. If he was to win this war, he had to correctly predict every move Thanos or his allies would make with every action or reaction he took.

He exhaled and closed his eyes, gently running his fingers through his hair to get the loose strands to slick back out of his face. He concentrated his focus onto his body, using his sorcery to make his attire reappear on his body so that he wasn't as bare as he felt he was; his protective breastplate, the leather straps and guards around his torso and his lower body, his arm guards and his boots all materialized on his body basked in a faint golden glow. Everything didn't even have a scratch on it; there were no holes where Brohcca's staff had pierced through his body or any sign he had been to war at all besides the strange blue staining his cheek and the partially red eye. His wounds were hidden behind his armor as he felt they should be; no true man who had mastered such power as he would stay hidden behind closed doors, wounded and broken for long. He no longer felt weak or vulnerable anymore, and that was just what he needed to clear the rest of his trouble from his mind.

He heard her footsteps gently padding back over in his direction. "You weren't even paying attention, were you?" Her voice snapped him from his thoughts.

"I'm afraid I wasn't. My mind is far from here," he said softly as he reopened his eyes and put his hands back at his side. He no longer felt like the childish Loki who had been mistreated all his life as he had just hours before. He had repressed that feeling back in the deepest corners of his mind; the man who had the determination to get exactly what he set out for had returned to the surface.

Normalcy at last. He refused to let this outrageous skin affliction get the best of him any longer.

"As long as you aren't mentally unstable, then I can't argue with that," he heard her say.

He stood in the center of his room and clasped his hands behind his back lightly, being mindful of the still healing wound in his shoulder. His eyes still indicated that he was only partially there; while he was alert and aware of what was going around him, he was still deep in thought.

"I saw you fall to your very own dagger; might I inquire how you managed to let that happen?" he taunted her in good intentions.

"I am just as lost for words as you are on that," she laughed. "Only explanation I have is Brohcca probably had something to do with it."

"You did call him a coward," he said, glancing over his shoulder at her after he spoke. She had sat back down on the couch that he had turned his back to. "Should you not be resting? Surely you haven't yet recovered completely from your scars of war," he spoke lightly, turning on his heels to face her completely.

"I should," she nodded, stretching her legs out and placing them on the table in front of her to use it as a foot rest.

"Then go do so," he spoke before she got a chance to explain herself. "You have managed to bring me back from the brink of chaos and possibly utter insanity; you have done all you can do at the moment to ensure the stability of my mentality, if that is even remotely possible considering I was never sane to begin with," he said, letting a smirk curl on his lips when Orthani let out a laugh. "Your health and recovery are still of most importance and since you have yet to achieve my level of sorcery, you cannot excel the recovery process as I can. Rest. There is nothing more you can do."

She exhaled roughly as she reluctantly listened to his request. She had no intent of actually being able to sleep due to the sun having already risen in the sky. "Alright, fine." She forced herself to stand up from the couch. As she started walking towards the bed, however, she was stopped.

"Orthani," Loki's smooth voice called out softly. "Come to me before you rest, my dear." As much as he wanted to play the rest of this war with a straight face and keep his plans close to his chest, he could not deny her deathly grasp on his mangled, weakened heart.

"You aren't going to try and heal me, are you?" She lifted a brow as she halted and walked over to him.

"I am afraid I would burn you once more if I dare tried," he spoke, turning his head to shift his gaze to the wall as she approached him. "Besides, one can only utilize so much magic and my powers are being occupied with hastening my own revival."

"Well you need it more than I do, that's for certain," she exhaled as she stood before him.

He suddenly heard the voice of his mother off in the far distance and it pulled him from his thoughts. Before he even got to do anything, his mind latched onto that voice as he tried to make out what she was saying. Orthani noticed his sudden change in attention and she watched as his face lost his otherwise soft expression; he suddenly brushed past her and headed out towards the balcony.

"Oh yes, that was definitely important," she spoke under her breath as she rolled her eyes. She slowly followed him out and watched as he swept his gaze around in search for the source of the faint voices he had heard. She followed the direction of his gaze off to the left and saw his mother followed by Thor and the Allfather walking down the breezeway several floors below them, leading towards a long spiral staircase that led into Loki's corridor.

"What do you mean you cannot find him?!" they heard her gasp wafting up to their perch as they watched them hurry across the covered breezeway.

She saw his somewhat shocked expression flash across his face as Loki watched his mother intently. His face suddenly changed to a more stern expression and she knew almost instantly that he was about to have to go speak with his family; a family that while she did live in the House of Odin, she was not a part of.

"Take it easy on yourself, Loki," she whispered as she went to place a light kiss on his jaw where the blue hadn't yet touched. She quickly went back inside and left the door open, knowing that he'd definitely rush out the moment his family reached the giant golden doors at the end of his hall. She went to rest as he had instructed, though she wasn't doing so to follow his orders; she was still utterly exhausted from the fight.

* * *

Loki was somewhat shocked; his mother was frantically worried over the status of her adopted son? What blasphemy was this?

"I am sure he is perfectly fine, Frigga," he watched as his father tried to reason with her. "Loki is more than capable of taking care of himself-"

"Oh yes, of course. That perfectly explains why we are having this conversation to begin with!" She turned around and snapped at Odin.

"He is a grown man, Frigga. He is not a boy-"

"He. Is. My. Son!" she bravely yet frantically spoke, her words easier for Loki to hear now that they were closer and she was speaking louder.

"As he is mine!"

"Then why will you not start treating him like so!" she retorted, turning on her heels and continuing down the hall, not giving Odin a chance to answer her.

Loki stood at a loss for words. _Maybe, by some odd chance, my mother refuses to see me as such a vile monster as the rest of them do. _The thought crossed his mind quickly as he watched Odin and Thor hurry after his mother hurriedly. _I know I am no favorite in her eyes, but to see that she cares when every other loathsome soul hardly casts a respectable gaze in my direction is more than I thought to be plausible. _

He watched as his family walked through the golden doors leading to the spiraling stairwell and he bolted. He let his powerful wards down, not wanting them to haphazardly toss his mother aside as they had done every other being aside besides Orthani. He walked towards the door of his chambers and reached it just before he heard Thor stop them both at the end of the hall in warning about the wards he had once placed.

He stood, waiting with his hand on the handle for someone to call out to him.

"Thor says he is not here, my dear queen," he heard Odin say faintly from down the hall.

"His Mynx is there for certain; as for Loki I cannot say," Thor corrected his father.

"If Orthani is there, then so is he," Frigga responded confidently. "Loki! Reveal yourself, my son!" she yelled down the hall in order to make sure she heard him if she was indeed right.

Loki smirked. _My dear mother, you were always exquisite in seeing right past my shrouds and my wards. My father severely underestimates you._

"Frigga, it is of no use. He is not here," Odin spoke after a moment of silence.

Loki boldly opened his door and stepped out into the hallway. "It is almost as though you hardly know me at all, Allfather," he said as he closed his door behind him. He stood in front of his door with his arms carefully clasped behind his back to avoid irritating his injuries.

He watched his mother, who at that point had her back turned to him as if she was about to argue back with his father, swirled around to face him, her dull blue gown swirling at her feet and her long, almost blond-turned-white hair falling over one shoulder. "My word, look at you!" she gasped as she saw what had happened to his face and she started towards him.

He put out a hand, stopping her in her tracks.

"He is a warrior who has-"

"Silence!" she spoke softly, again swirling around to face her husband. "I have not the slightest idea as to what has gotten into you lately but I refuse to sit idle to amuse your pride in commending him for his past crimes. He is my son; _our _son," she softly lectured as Loki rolled his eyes and reached behind his back to retrieve his leather gloves in order to hide the affliction on his hand as well. "I cannot keep turning my back to him when he has already been forced to feel abandoned by his own family. He has saved our city with the help and great bravery of Sif, her warriors and _his_ Harbinger. He has done more than enough to regain my trust; if you so much as think that I will continue to put up with your heartless punishment and idly watch as our world falls, then you are drastically mistaken."

Loki, who had walked up to her as she made her valiant speech, put a gloved hand on her shoulder, causing her to turn to face him. He gave a gentle nod of his head to convey his gratitude for her mercy on him and then his gaze fell upon his father.

"I see you have healed your more severe of injuries?" Odin assumed lightly, watching as Loki took his hand from his mother's shoulder.

Loki smirked. "The armor merely hides the wounds; they are far too severe for me to recover from in such a short time without any other aid. You should know that," he snidely jabbed, which failed in his attempt to draw a reaction from his father's stone cold face. "I assume that by mother's return that the Tesseract has been brought back into our possession, correct?" he said hoarsely. He intently studied his father's reactions as he continued to slowly walk towards him.

"It has been placed into my possession and it is to be kept in an undisclosed location until this war has been-"

Loki shook his head to silence his father. "The Tesseract is to be placed into _my_ possession," he said, taking one final step towards his father.

"If you expect me to simply give you the very object that has started this universal war and panic, you are terribly mistaken, son," Odin said calmly. He was hardly fazed by Loki's hard stare that was trying to pierce into his tough outer shell and attempting to strike fear in him.

"That was not a request; that was a direct order," Loki demanded as he lowered his head, his eyes once again giving the Allfather a dangerous stare. "An order than you will follow without further resistance or else face the downfall of your precious kingdom. If you fail to follow that order, the moment we turn our backs will be the moment it is stolen from us. We can't have that, now can we?" Loki threatened smoothly, his voice low and menacingly strong.

Odin could tell Loki was attempting to manipulate him. He remained silent and unyielding; he refused to give the person who had complete knowledge about such a powerful object and he wouldn't put it past him to use it against them for his own benefit.

Loki snarled at his father's refusal. "Either you give me the Tesseract without further delay or I will take if by force," he growled, not wanting to deal with this at the moment. He had plans to attend to; ones that required his possession of the very item his father was keeping from him. "As the mastermind and strategist of this war, a position by which you appointed me to, it is impeccable that I know of the Tesseract's whereabouts at all possible times. We have already been invaded once and it has been put directly into the line of danger; I cannot let it have any other opportunity for our enemies to take it from our grasps. You will give me the cube or it will forcibly be taken from you."

"I am not afraid of you, son. Stop this intimidation-"

"And nor am I afraid to pry the damnable thing from your deadened hands should it so reach that point," Loki interrupted with a low hiss.

Odin's head recoiled back slightly at his son's daring behavior. He had known Loki to be a troublesome child but never had he made such a threat against the life of his father. "I can recount your pardon at any given moment and you stand making threats against me?" He furrowed his brow, still eying his son intently.

"Both you and I know that if you place me back in a cell, you will be damning the universe to an inescapable end. Even the King of Asgard should know better than to proceed with such a tragic, idiotic and no doubt utterly stupid mistake."

Odin gave him an emotionless yet hard stare before exhaling. "Very well." He took a step back from Loki and with his golden staff in his hand, he hit the end of the rod on the stone floor, a low rumble echoing off the golden walls as he did so. He brought his free hand up as a light breeze swirled around the corridor and pushed towards his slightly curled fingers. A blue light formed just above his palm and swirled into the form of the Tesseract before it solidified in his hand.

Loki watched as a few strands of his hair were dislodged from his slicked back locks and he simply ignored it as the Tesseract formed in his father's hands. _It is never that simple _he thought, not even close to impressed. Loki's eyes darted over to his brother, who had his gaze darting between Odin, Loki and the Tesseract now lightly clutched in Odin's curled fingers. _Uneasy, are we Thor? You never could lie to me and get away with it, now could you? _He couldn't help but let a smirk curl on his lips as he shook his head slightly.

"Tell me with the upmost truth you can dare muster in your soul; do you take me to be but an unintelligent, imbecilic fool, Allfather?" he snarked, lifting his chin as his head tilted to the side.

"Loki-"

"Silence, my dearest mother; this isn't of your concern," Loki silenced his mother without even glancing over his shoulder before she had a chance to chastise his disrespectful tongue. "Go on _father_, tell me how much of an outright riffraff I am to you; how dare you think you can outwit a master of trickery and deception," he chuckled diabolically. He took the cube from his father's hand and dropped it to the floor carelessly, making it shatter on impact. He watched as the blue ball of energy swirled at its escape and burned itself out over the shattered remnants of whatever object his father had conjured up.

"It was worth an attempt; I never expected you to be fooled, but if, by chance you were being controlled by a force we cannot yet see, then had you fallen for it, it would have confirmed my slightest suspicions," Odin said without hesitation.

"Of course. You believe it is utterly impossible for just a good king and father like yourself to raise such a terrible traitor as myself, am I correct?" Loki mocked him with a devilish smirk before suddenly snapping once more. He roughly grabbed his father's throat; and though he had no intention of actually doing anything besides using his menacing form of intimidation to get what he so longed for, he knew that his mother and Thor wouldn't see it as that way. "As much as you may think I have an ounce of good left in my blood, you are far beyond mistaken," Loki growled as he loosened his grip and allowed his father to at least breathe. Odin didn't even once break his expressionless face. "No matter how daft you are to think I am possibly not in control over my every action, I very much so am. How dare you insult my intelligence by thinking that you would be able to still call yourself a good father by proving that I am weak enough to let an enemy control me from afar. _How pathetic._" He let go of his grip around Odin's throat which caused the king to stumble back slightly.

"That was not my intention, Loki-"

"Then why have you given me such control over this war when you won't even dare to trust your own son?" Loki let out a scoff. "You said you were proud of me only to turn around and take back your words when you looked upon our enemies and realized that what was out to end each of our lives had the potential to do so without difficulty, you suddenly wished me to surrender to them and allow them to leave peacefully and look at where that has left us. We almost lost the very first battle, and yet you refuse to see me as the one who prevented our loss; you see me as the one who almost led us to our death. I refuse to continue fighting this war with your foolish methods. I am doing this on my terms and if you so much as try and stop what is bound to come to pass, then you will be forced to watch as Asgard burns in your failure. Hand me the Tesseract or may our ancestors have mercy on your pompously stubborn soul."

Odin watched as his son gave such a valiant speech, knowing that he was at least partially right. He knew Loki more than he led himself to truly seem; he knew he always walked a very thin line between destruction and redemption and he could not yet tell if he was back from his path of destruction or if he was still seeking out revenge against his entire land. He just didn't know which side of that line Loki was on.

As Loki continued his threatening glare at his father, he felt a hand touch his injured shoulder. He ducked away from it and turned to find his brother Thor beside him. "If you plan to grab my shoulder in your condolences, I suggest you not grab the one with a gaping hole in it, should you ever decide to think before you act," he snapped shrewdly.

He stopped his jest when he saw the softened look on Thor's face and looked towards his outstretched hand. He was holding the actual Tesseract; that he could tell by the amount of immeasurable energy radiating from the swirling cortex. He looked back to meet his brother's gaze and saw him give a light nod of encouragement to take it. There was no line of deception on his face, nor was there any hidden expression indicating he was doing this out of anything other than trust for his brother.

Loki's gaze faltered, he feeling the hardness and spiteful animal in his chest stop its anger-filled fit. "At least one of you has developed common sense since the last time I spoke with you," he muttered, lifting his hand up and causing the cube to fly into his curled fingers.

For the first time ever, he felt the overwhelming power run through his veins as he eyed the Tesseract, his mind intrigued for the first time in quite a long period of time. His intensity vanished as it was replaced with curiosity, which he hid behind a relatively straight face. All of the knowledge he had received straight from Thanos himself was writhing in such a small object that he clutched in his gloved palm; he knew this alien object like no other and by gods was it exhilarating to finally have it in his grasps. Not only had his father shown him a property he hadn't yet been told of, but it was something he could use to his advantage.

The fate of the universe was quite literally being held by his afflicted Jotun hand; oh the irony of such sentiment. Not only was a race that was considered subhuman holding the most powerful object in the universe at that moment, but it was also the God of Mischief and a master of deception and trickster who manipulated his own family to get it into his grasps.

Those facts alone made Loki stand a little taller in his pride.

"I hope you know what you are doing, son," Odin's voice snapped him out of his thoughts. "I so pray I might show you mercy should you betray the very ones whom you can call your family, let alone the entire universe that is at stake," he said solemnly.

Loki rolled his eyes. "How sentimental," he scoffed as he seemed to toss the Tesseract to the side gently, it disappearing before it even left his hands. He briskly walked past his father and headed towards the giant golden double doors just to the right of the end of the hall.

"Loki!" Odin called warningly as he approached the double doors.

"Am I not allowed to release our gatekeeper from his eternal binds?" Loki spoke out somewhat sarcastically as he ignored his father's call. "It truly is grand to have your trust," he spat out halfheartedly before he opened one of the doors and slipped into the spiral staircase, leaving his family to watch his retreat without another word spoken to him.

When the door closed behind him, Odin looked to his heir. "Follow him. I refuse to let him hide such a dangerous object away without knowing its location," he ordered softly to Thor, who nodded and complied to his demand.

* * *

Loki walked out onto the battlefield, the sun now beaming down heavily on the barren wastelands that stretched between the outer walls and the gloomy forest a ways off. He could feel the sun stinging his Jotun skin but instead of burning the blue flesh, he felt it being melted away as his Asgardian skin took over once more. The infinite power of the cube he had in his possession was giving him a massive source of energy to feed off of and fuel his sorcery to levels beyond his wildest imaginations and he almost reveled in the feeling of being so powerful; yet he hid it behind an expressionless face. He could feel his chest wounds closing and he felt the cold, frozen Jotun skin retract to heal his demonic appearance.

He was the overseer. He had complete control over everything that happened and it fueled his power-hungry pride.

His trickster antics were back and it felt absolutely marvelous.

He scanned the once battlefield, noticing that most of the fallen Chitauri had yet to be disposed of as he approached the gatekeeper, still frozen and suspended in a moment in time. He let his suppressed smirk lightly curl on his lips as he stepped in front of him, a glint in his green eyes that would more than likely make Thor rethink his decision in giving him an object that held such power.

"Such an odd coincidence that once again, you remain frozen to your standing place as I watch you helplessly fight to see to your freedom," he hummed, studying the gatekeeper's face. "Good Heimdall, what must we do with you." His smirk gained a sinister flair as he stood in front of Heimdall as if he was taunting him. He clasped his hands behind his back as he felt the remaining sapphire skin melt off his face as his Asgardian complexion fully repaired itself.

"He will remain frozen unless my death is seen through," a sudden deep, throaty voice broke through the silence.

Loki's smirk faded so fast he hardly knew what hit him. He swirled to look over his shoulder to seek the one who dared to take his prideful moment from him. The voice was unmistakable.

"How can you still be alive after you've had a spike driven through your skull…and where are you," Loki stuttered, more in annoyance than actual fear. He scanned the field and caught sight of the commander, Brohcca, still lying where he had almost taken Loki's life. His silver staff glinted in the sunlight beside his decaying body, still painted red with blood from the Asgardian Prince himself. He briskly strode over to him, keeping his hands behind his back and his shoulders back.

"You are a fool, Asgardian," Brohcca struggled to speak to him. He was paralyzed and mostly unable to move due to the chip having been removed from his skull, but he was still alive.

"Not so scary and monstrous now that you are lying in defeat on the lands of your enemies, now are you," Loki taunted as he clenched his jaw.

"He will get what he wants from you. He always gets what he wants," Brohcca croaked back.

Loki smirked. "If Thanos always got what he wished for, he would have defeated me long before I stole the command over this war," he spat. "No matter who I decide to side with, he will fall. That, I can assure you of."

Brohcca managed to let out a chuckle. "And you will watch in failure as your world burns at his reign."

Loki rolled his eyes. "How tragic," he said flatly, moving to grab the spear lying where Thor had tossed it to. "Though I do believe I am not one to let a leader leave me on the brink of death and get away with it, so unless you have anything of importance to say, you might as well plead your case," he spoke, toying with the commander's mind as he picked up the spear and placed the winged head to Brohcca's chest as the commander had so cruelly done to him.

"You will lose."

"Who said I wished to win?" Loki coyly said before shoving the staff through Brohcca's decaying chest and through his spine, finally ending his life completely once and for all. "And I do so believe that, as tradition goes, a staff used to kill the one who owns it shall suddenly change its loyalty to that who wielded it for the final stab," he muttered as he twisted the rod before yanking it from the dead commander's carcass. "Seeing as though this is so incredibly more powerful than those I have held in the past, you have just condemned your entire race," Loki muttered proudly. _Thanos, your standards have become considerably lax since I was recruited in your name. _

He suddenly turned around and pointed the staff at Heimdall, who had indeed unfrozen after Loki had slain the leader. "Do not," he commanded simply, which again lead to him freezing to his place before he could charge at the god for what his gaze could look upon.

He watched as Heimdall froze and his gaze hardened to his sinister glare. "I hope for your sake that you do realize that what you cast your pathetic gaze upon is _never _as you _think it is_," Loki hissed as he approached the helpless gatekeeper who was now frozen by his power; his unyielding and infinite power as a sorcerer due to the two sources he had claimed within the hour. He took him by the neck and tossed him to the ground, breaking the spell once more. He quickly tossed the silver staff up, grabbed ahold of the rod lower than half way, and then lowered it to Heimdall's chest. "If you so much as think of telling my dear beloved father anything pertaining to my plans and alliances during this war, you will once again be frozen and your tongue will be cut from your throat. Do I make myself inescapably clear?" he threatened menacingly. He didn't need to have Heimdall spouting about his plans as if they weren't such delicate matters to his father and while even Heimdall might see the consequences of his own actions, he must remain loyal to his king.

Heimdall pulled himself off the ground and stood up once more. "Must you choose such a dangerously thin path to go about proving your stature?" he said lowly, not even flinching from Loki's harsh attack.

Loki chuckled. "Being cautious takes the amusement from it. It matters not which side I choose; what matters is that my father be so harshly reminded that I am not to be underestimated or thrown about as a helpless wretch as he still does," he spoke with a smirk. He gently set the tip of the silver staff to Heimdall's throat. "Such a pity I have to do this," he sarcastically snorted as the staff glowed white at the wings where it touched Heimdall's throat.

He put an enchantment on the gatekeeper; one that would not only veer his gaze away from his master schemes, but it would also lock his tongue to the roof of his mouth should he even think about speaking of his plans.

"You already managed to derail plans you weren't even involved in when I was on the good realm of Midgard; we can't have that happening again, can we?" Loki tilted his head and gave a wolfish grin before turning away from him, a psychotic glint buried deep within a sea of emerald in his eyes.

"She was to be brought her for you; she will trust you no matter what lies ahead, and that is why interference was required."

_Of course, he must always stake claim for responsibility over what has and has not come to pass. Even my accomplishments of the impossible are overlooked in these latter days. _

"Your deception will fail you in the end," Heimdall spoke as Loki swaggered away from him.

Loki's cocky attitude suddenly snapped as he turned around faster than Heimdall could react. He set a blast towards the gatekeeper and sent him flying backwards; he hit the ground and rolled to a stop. Loki stalked up to the fallen guardsman and placed the tip of the staff once again to his throat.

"Or am I simply leading you to believe that just to watch you squirm under your helplessness?" Loki sneered as he pushed his jaw aside. "Due to the fact you are refusing to fight back, you obviously see that which is to come to pass. You know just as well as I where our fates lie; and therefore you know how delicate and intricate the plan that has been set forth truly is. Wouldn't it be a shame if you ruined my plan of redemption?"

He snapped the staff away and stormed back to the palace, he leaving the Asgardian by himself on the otherwise empty battlefield if not for the dead Chitauri still yet to be disposed of.

_They will learn._

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**A/N: **Seeeee?! Loki's back to his villainous ways as I promised.

**CuriosityKilledTheCat101: **Aw yeah, Loki action is awesome. x)

And thank you for the words of support there. It is greatly appreciated.

**kittykatiekat5549: **Because I had nothing else written at the time Dx

**Cat-Natty: **Was this action enough for you?! xD

And I sometimes give you guys insider's scoop on things in other replies, so hey, you're already set! xD (Except it's not really insider's scoop because it's at the bottom for everyone to see...but still)

And actually, I don't think Tasha figured out his plan on her own; I think he wanted her to figure it out because Bruce, in my opinion, wouldn't have Hulked out if it weren't for Tasha being real pushy. He had a very thin layer of Bruce's mind when he walked through the halls, that's why he ended up grabbing the scepter (imo). So in reality, even in revealing his plan, he was still playing them just to get what he wanted because he knew Tasha would be the key to getting Bruce to freak out.

**TheMagentaColor: **Alright, cool. Cause I don't think I could post a shorter chapter if I tried.

**VChrisi: **Ah yes, what a plan indeed. x) He's being Slim Shady; that's his plan.

And thank you for the words of encouragement!

**Felidaes' Tale: **Tony Stark. No doubt about it; half the scenes I write with him practically write themselves. He's such a great comedian and a funny character to write, and not only that, he's just an awesome character in general.

**Asmos: **Then come on down and join us. We've got fandoms galore xD

And sorry I'm making you all wait on the smut scene. x.x Loki being Loki, he isn't the kind to just go around and start having sex because he can. I feel in this situation he's got too much on his mind to think about fucking anyone's brains out unless they completely isolate themselves away from everything and are forced to sorta tap into the simplicity of things. (And you'll find out what that means within the next two, three chapters and you will be rewarded for such patience! I promise, it'll come about soon)

**anime0angel: **That comment...Oh my god, that was a sad thought. ;-; He really has broken most of his promises to her, hasn't he. X.x

**chuckythecat: **Lol, yes, the psycho everyone loves has been reawoken at last. It's actually kinda scary...O.o

**Kaidere: **Wait, last part of the story? xD (Lokani feels. All the Lokani feels x.x)

And I kinda figured people would want to keep the longer chapters around. I don't know, I've been able to write a lot of words simply for one scene lately so I can't really help the word count. x.x

**GoldBee: **Aw, thank you so much! I do try, at least. x)

**The Red Dove: **Yeeeaaaaaaah buddy. x)


	19. Stalling

**A/N:** I do apologize for the wait, my loverlies.

Uh oh. I'm posting an author's note before a chapter? That can only mean one thing.

Yes, there is smut in this chapter. Younger people, advert your eyes! -or not. If you get scarred for life, that's no longer my problem.- If you are offended by it, then by all means skip this chapter and wait until I post the next one up. It isn't the entire chapter, just up until well...you'll figure it out.

For now, I'm posting all of last chapter's review answers to my profile page because this chapter is already 10,000 words long and it doesn't need 2000 more tacked onto the end. If you reviewed last chapter, then go there and I'll have answered it there. =) Hopefully I haven't completely failed you all here. xP

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Loki shut the door to his chambers closed behind him, the soft click echoing softly through the vast open space of his chambers. He exhaled lightly as he let his sinister, more devious side of him slip from his mind; he couldn't bring himself to deceive her so cruelly, not whilst they were shrouded in his chambers away from the prying eyes of his enemies and his allies for that matter. She had already vowed to trust him unconditionally until every card was shown at the end and that was all he needed to hear from her to allow himself to not hide behind his destructive side.

Once that door closed, there was no returning to revoke what had already been set in motion. He would be the master of pawns; the only one he could trust would be as the veteran player of chess would understand without a doubt: his loyal and powerful queen. No matter what alliances he would forge, she would be his one true trusty companion, not to mention the most powerful ally he cared to come by.

He inhaled through his nose as his eyes fluttered closed, filling his lungs completely before exhaling it all through parted lips. He had to calm his manic, sadistic swindler side of him down. As much as he enjoyed fiddling with things that were best left untouched, this was no time for his antics.

His eyes fluttered open as a quick, fleeting thought passed through his mind. He could heal her now. His magic and sorcery were no longer being used to heal his own wounds; he had used the Tesseract's infinite source of power and energy to speed his healing into overdrive.

A faint grin curled briefly across his lips as he reached up and snatched the gloves from his hands. He no longer needed them due to his afflicted skin being cured. He tossed them over to the leather chair directly to his right and then quietly walked through his chambers and turned the corner to approach the outcropping where his bed was located.

He didn't know how long he had been gone but he knew it was at least over three hours. Orthani had fallen asleep in that time; a deep enough sleep to where she didn't stir when he had entered his chambers.

"Orthani," he said lowly, leaning against the wall to his right as he watched her sleep just in front of him.

She still didn't stir. He gave a light chuckle before he glided over to her side of the bed and sat down close to her stomach and leaned over her, using his arm as an anchor to hold his weight. She was resting on the side that had been mostly uninjured and her eyes were mostly covered by her obsidian colored locks cascading in her face.

He studied the peaceful look on her face as he waited for her to make any sort of movement that would indicate she was awake. He let a faint smile play across his lips since he knew no one else was watching him. He hated waking her but he hated watching her body suffer from her painful wounds just as much, if not more.

He leaned in to rest his forehead on her jaw while burrowing his nose gently into her neck to get her to stir. "Orthani, my love," he breathed into the side of her neck as he felt her stir lightly beneath him. He gave a light smirk as he pressed his lips to the steady pulse on the side of her neck. _Of course, how reveling it is to not be restricted by such dangerous skin and how intoxicating it is to enjoy it. _He let his tongue lave against the fluttering pulse under his lips as she curled underneath him, her low yet sleep-ridden chuckle reverberating in her throat underneath his tongue.

"Are you awake or shall I keep going?" he murmured, unable to suppress his grin from faintly curling across his lips.

"Well that was quite the wakeup call," she droned as her mind was slowly reawakened from her slumber. Her eyes fluttered open as he pulled back from her neck and met his gaze.

"I did call your name once or twice and you refused to stir," he replied, giving her a light nudge of his nose against the side of her forehead and then standing up, gliding towards the other side of the room. "You were too deep in your slumber to hear it."

"Well you've managed to remove your Jotun skin miraculously; I must be missing something here," Orthani said as she lifted herself off the bed and arched her back towards, stretching her muscles and almost instantly regretting it when she felt the wounds in her back stretch as well and sent a twinge of pain through her spine. She winced, making Loki turn around at the short hiss that sharply slipped through her teeth.

He furrowed his brow. "You have yet to heal from your injuries enough to not cause you pain when you do that?"

She fell back to the bed onto her stomach and growled softly. "Apparently immortality doesn't necessarily mean immortality," she groaned as she moved her head away from the pillow.

He stifled a chuckle knowing that it would only make her mood worse than it already was; whenever she woke up from anything, she was always bitter and snippy so he dared not to irritate that. "I shall heal you on one condition," he said smoothly as he leaned up against the wall with his hands clasped behind his back.

She laughed. "Always with the incentives," she shook her head as she pulled herself from the bed gingerly and stood to her feet. "Can you actually heal me then? Just a few hours ago, you were going on about how you couldn't do so; what changed so suddenly?"

He smirked widely. "There have been a few circumstances that have brought upon a change, yes," he spoke smartly, choosing his words cleverly.

Her head tilted ever so slightly to the side as she narrowed her eyes at him. "You always worry me when you get like that," she shook her head lightly.

"Have I ever given you reason not to trust me?" he gave her a narrow gaze of his own, making her lips slightly curl into a smile.

"Go on then," she waved him on as she carefully treaded past him towards the lounge style arranged side of his quarters, letting her hand flick in midair as she had a golden and crystal chalice snap to her wrist from across the room. She headed over to the couch as she put the chalice to her lips and took a sip of the ice cold water that had swirled into the bottom at her command.

"I request a favor of you," he said smoothly, walking to stand behind the couch where she sat.

She cocked her brow and looked over her shoulder to meet his gaze. "You're asking me for a favor? Who are you and what have you done to the Loki I know?"

He chuckled. "I can assure you that my actions within the next few days are going to cause uproar with my father. I need you to take my command whenever I so much as leave this realm or else he will place Thor in charge and therefore he jeopardizes ruining what I have already laid out in stone."

She furrowed her brow and twisted her body enough to fully look at him. "In charge of what? The only thing they have you in charge of it overseeing the war; seeing as though we just destroyed the first attack, there isn't much to be in charge of."

He smirked. "There is much more to it than that." She took another sip of water before the chalice was taken from her hand. Loki had stolen it from her fingers and took a sip himself before gently swirling the liquid inside the cup and moving to on the wooden table just in front of her. The crystal clear water swirled into a translucent pink before swiftly darkening into the deep purple color of Asgard's signature succulent red wine.

"Why me?"

He gave a faint shrug. "Why not? All I need of you is to keep a close eye on the Tesseract and ensure that my father and brother don't start searching into affairs that they are not a part of." He handed her the chalice back. "Heimdall and my mother will cause you no trouble; though if Thor and the Allfather start shoving their noses into my affairs, then all will be lost. Now drink," he muttered as she took the glass from him, earning him a slight unsure look from Orthani.

"Why."

"Must you always need reason?" he spoke as he lifted his brow. "You will find out soon enough; this should only take but a few minutes should you cooperate, yes?" He reached for her frostbitten wrist and gently wrapped his fingers around the part of her arm that hadn't been chilled by his doing.

"A few minutes; I thought you said healing was never a quick form of magic, hm?" she snarked playfully before taking a sip of the dark red liquid staining the crystal of the chalice.

He gave a light chuckle as he felt the power that was swirling in his chest, as it was earlier, spark at his fingertips. He gave a quick second's pause before he pressed his thumb gently to the center of the dark blue skin. "I believe there is a Midgardian phrase one would use in this situation; a magician never reveals his secrets," he poetically pronounced as he watched the blue slowly melt off her skin.

She jumped and kept herself from doing a spit take of the wine she had just drank, startled at the sudden feeling that was similar to what hot wax dripping down her arm where the burn was. It was incredibly hot, though it lacked the familiar feeling of pain that would normally accompany such a sensation.

Loki watched her squirm where she sat and smirked. "Control yourself-"

"Of course, 'there won't be pain!' Yeah, it's like pain, but without the actual agony of it all, you lying bitch," she hissed a strained jab at him.

He gave a light chuckle. "Though it is effectively working, that you cannot deny even if you so wished to." His eyes dropped to the blue that was slowly disappearing from her skin. She twitched again and he moved his gaze back to her. "If you avert your focus onto something other than the magic, I assure you, you will hardly feel the strange sensations."

"That is easier said than done," she strained, clenching her hand to the point that her fingernails were digging into her palm.

Loki's chuckle hummed deeply in his throat as his eyes flitted down to her healing arm as the blue finally faded completely from her skin.

"So what are you planning?" she asked, snatching her hand out of Loki's grasp when she saw she had been healed and shook her wrist out.

He pressed his lips into a thin line and dropped his gaze. She always managed to see through him and he never could hide something from her. He didn't want to tell her; he was already pushing the line when it came to being completely two-faced with her that he didn't wish to keep her well informed. He didn't want to lie to her, but he didn't want to see his life brought to an end beside the entire universe either. "I must leave you, for how long, I know not exactly," he said softly, a less than happy expression on his face.

"What?" Orthani suddenly went from skittish to concern within a split second. "Why? Where are you heading to?"

He exhaled lightly and stared at a fixed spot on the couch before looking up at her, his eyes showing a hint of the crestfallen feeling in his chest at that moment. He leaned towards her to grab the wine chalice from her hand and caused it to vanish in thin air. He then grabbed her wrist and pulled her from the couch and onto her feet. He rose to his feet and caught her lips with his since he had her so close to him and kissed her. It was a sweet, gentle kiss that was simply him capturing her bottom lip softly.

She complied, though she could read and pick up on the unnerved feeling that he had swirling in the pit of his stomach. "Will you tell me or are you going to keep me in the dark?" she asked somewhat urgently as she pulled back from him. She looked up at him as he refused to look her in the eye. "Loki?"

He exhaled before meeting her gaze as his fingers started toying with hers lightly. "I cannot risk you becoming an object to be used against me by my enemies; I cannot do anything besides keeping you oblivious to what I am doing," he said softly as he pressed his forehead to hers and nosed into her cheek. "You have become a very soft and sensitive weakness to me; should anyone I am not too fond of decides to start searching for the one thing that might make me submit and if they find you…not at this point and time. True, I will divulge more to you as things progress but at this point…should Thor or my father start interrogating you to try and discover my location or should Thanos start searching the minds of those close to me and finds you know more than anyone around, then my downfall is certain. I cannot risk that."

As he spoke, she dropped his gaze and nodded, her lips pressed into a firm line as she listened to him.

"I know how you must think of this; I have already been misleading to you earlier, but you must trust me," he whispered, bringing his hand up to tilt her chin up to draw her gaze up to him.

"Do you realize you're forcing me to be conflicted between two sides again? I'm caught between saving the universe or whatever the hell you've associated with. I understand hiding what you do from your father, but hiding it from me as well?" Her soft chastening made him drop his hand and his gaze as well. "I will trust you as long as you trust me as well, but hiding it from me isn't exactly what you call trust."

He watched as she walked away from him, slowly heading back to the bedroom. "What has changed? Just earlier, you weren't so somber over this when I told you I would be going about this war with such a misleading manor that it would fool everyone around us and now I say I must leave and you are suddenly reclusive," he called out to her tentatively.

"Because of how many unanswered questions you're leaving," she spoke as she swirled around to face him. "You aren't telling me where you are going, you won't tell me when or even if you'll be returning without completely slaughtering the city with a new army of sorts, and you aren't telling me what you are up to, you won't even tell me whose bloody side you're on," she spoke softly. "The only reason I followed you the last time we fought a war on Earth was because I knew what you were doing. I knew what you were trying to accomplish and I knew your intentions; this is completely different. You being so manically deceptive to try and hide this so called master plan, there is only so much trust I can give you before I can't believe you anymore. And before you ask, yes, it matters to me because if this ends how it's looking right now, then not only will the man who gave me the chance to stand here today betray his loyalist partner, but he'd also go against her when she's done nothing but remain loyal until that end. Forgive me if it's clouded my mind."

He dropped his gaze to the ground and his head lowered as well. "So if I leave, do I lose your trust?" he asked softly, clasping his hands behind his back as he spoke.

"Not necessarily, but I can only trust you so much; if you go marching into the city with Thanos at your side and start demanding for the Tesseract, I cannot honestly continue trusting you beyond that point. _That's _what I fear; you'll go off after telling me that you need me to have your back and then you'll come back and completely destroy everything and I'll be left looking like a fool yet again."

He felt a brief snarl flash across his lips before he shook it off. He remained still as he heard her continue walking towards the bedroom. He looked up and watched her approach the vanity to the left of the eloquent bed to run a brush through her unruly obsidian locks. He could tell by the way she held her shoulders hunched that the war was already getting to her head and that his deceptive demeanor was still offsetting her.

"Go on. Go do your bidding; I'll make sure no one goes snooping about and shoving their nose in business that shouldn't be meddled with," she exhaled finally.

She set the brush down and lowered her head as she rested her hands on the vanity, her mind falling deep in thought as she refused to recognize the slight twinges in her back. Her eyes stared mindlessly at the wood of the vanity. She was going to trust him; she had to. What else was there to do? He was the one who could save them all, so she had to trust him regardless of the fact that her logical side was saying she shouldn't. She hated how his mischievous demeanor was causing her to doubt him in her mind, but sometimes she let her human instinct get the better of her and this was one of those times.

She suddenly felt a hand at her side and she jumped from her thoughts, looking up to see the reflection of Loki standing behind her with a softened expression.

"Yes?" she said softly as his gaze met hers in the reflection of the mirror.

"Are you going to let me heal your back or are you going to continue walking around with those gashes that will surely form scars otherwise?" he spoke just as quietly, reaching up with his arm and letting his fingers tap the wood just beside her hand.

"I thought you said you had somewhere to be?" she forced a smirk to play across her lips as she gazed at his reflection in the mirror.

She watched as his eyes suddenly flicked to the side, he dropping her gaze as his jaw clenched. "It can wait," he quietly replied. He forced his gaze to meet hers in the mirror and gave her a weak grin. "I refuse to leave you until I have healed you completely and unless I am undoubtedly certain I have every last bit of your trust." He clenched his jaw tighter as his eyes darted around swiftly before he managed to catch her gaze again. "As eager as I might be to finalize every last detail of this strategy, it can wait."

She didn't know what it was, but that flicker of a grin gave her a sense of comfort behind his words. She gave him a smile in return and flicked her wrist. "Have at it then," she chuckled lightly, more out of a nervous quirk than it was of humor. She already didn't like the feeling of what seemed to be an invisible searing hot wax pour down her skin as her wounds healed; how she would endure the same uncomfortable feeling of it once again on wounds much worse than a burn on her arm, she didn't quite know.

"The more you tense, the more uncomfortable it'll feel, I hope you know," Loki's voice snapped her out of her thoughts. She had been so caught up in remembering the feel of her arm practically on fire without the actual pain that she hadn't realized his hands had slipped across the silk of her thin black robe and had traced along the lowest gash to find where it ended.

"Yeah, and you expect me to be able to simply ignore it? I don't expect you feel as though your body is on fire every time you heal yourself, hm?" she retorted, suppressing a shiver that was caused from Loki's fingers lightly grazing over her back with a feather light touch.

"I've grown accustom to it," he smiled faintly as he drew his body closer to her; so close, in fact, that had he ducked his head, he could bury his nose in her black hair.

She rolled her eyes as she felt him plant his thumbs in her skin, one on each end of that lowest gash. "Oh yes, you've grown accustom to it. I should've known." She suddenly felt that same odd sensation running along that open wound and bit her lip, digging her fingernails into the wooden surface of the vanity as she shut her eyes and tried to ignore the searing hot warmth trickle through the wound as her skin started closing.

Loki watched her reactions as he started to heal one of the smaller wounds on her back and smirked. He could physically feel her entire body tense underneath his fingertips and he could tell she wasn't enjoying it all too much. "Relax," he let the word hiss a few moments longer than he should have.

"Shut up."

He grinned as he felt her still tense underneath his touch. He let his thumbs slowly draw towards each other as he pulled them across her back towards her spine, her wound healing as he did so. "This would be a lot easier-" He lowered his head so that he was practically whispering in her ear. "-if I wasn't healing you through such a flimsy piece of clothing," he droned, earning a scoff from Orthani when he finished his statement.

"You are absolutely despicable, you know," she rolled her eyes and pushed away from him, moving over to the bed and letting herself fall face first into the satin sheets and probably earning a slightly confused look from Loki in the process.

"How many times are you going to walk away before you actually allow me to fully heal you?" Loki said, leaning against the vanity as he watched her curl up in the center of the bed.

"It isn't exactly the most pleasant feeling in the world; forgive me if I'm reluctant to let you continue healing me at all," she chuckled as she pulled her knees up to her chest and gave him a light smile.

"You are stalling," Loki said smoothly with a faint grin as he moved to clasp his hands behind his back. "Fearful I might wander off to renegotiate with the devil, are we?"

She raised her brow. "Should I be?"

"Though you might have the ability to understand me more than anyone else in this realm, you must remember that things are never as they seem," he quickly replied as he walked over to the other side of the bed where she had her back turned to and sat down, sitting sideways on the edge of the mattress. "Sit up. I know I said that I would leave after I healed your wounds but stalling my attempts will only lead to me leaving sooner."

She chewed lightly on her lower lip for a second or two before she finally complied. She uncurled herself from her little ball and slid over to him so he could heal the remaining two gashes and the still fractured ribs that were hindering her right side. As she felt the all too familiar feeling of the tingling, searing hot molten energy swirl and drip down her spine, she winced but she kept quiet. Her mind went off in a daze, almost like she was contemplating Loki's words and trying to decipher what every hidden nuance and inflection could possibly mean should he be giving her any subtle hints as to where he was going. If he truly was going to Thanos, then she didn't know what else to think.

Loki noticed her sudden silence and knew that was always a grim sign. As he started to work his thumbs in small circles while closing the largest wound on her back, he realized she wasn't normally a woman for silence, especially in this situation. He continued to absent-mindedly massage her back as the wound closed underneath his fingers, causing her muscled to relax under his touch. "Care to explain to me your sudden bout of silence or have I already lost that privilege?" he inquired softly as he noticed she was much more at ease with the undoubtedly offsetting feeling of her skin melting over her wounds as they healed.

His voice brought her back to being responsive. "I just don't want you to go off and do something stupid and regret it," she exhaled. Her senses were brought back to her as well and though she suddenly tensed for a split second at the strange magic, her muscles were reluctantly convinced to once again unclench themselves once she felt Loki's thumbs gently kneading them as her wounds were closed. "Forgive me for caring all too much-"

"What gives you reason to think that I am setting out to do something of that nature?" he interrupted her, swiftly gliding his hands up to the final gash that reached from her right shoulder down to the lowest rib on her left side.

"Do I need a reason? I happen to know that whenever someone puts you in charge, you always go and magnify everything you do," she exhaled. "If you are truly against Thanos, then you will go to extraordinary lengths to completely flaunt your victory in his face; if you're choosing to side against your father…then you will go through all the trouble to make sure he feels completely destroyed when you turn around and betray us all. Either way, that can only mean you are going to one place once you leave, for where else can you go."

He pressed his lips into a thin line as he continued to focus on healing her final wound. Even if he didn't enlighten her to his plans, she was able to figure out exactly where he was going. He no longer felt anxious to proceed in laying out the rest of his strategy as he did before; that had slowly disappeared as he continued talking with her while he healed her. He dropped his hands when her remaining wound drew shut and he stared at the leather on his overcoat, his head somewhat hung low as he got lost in his own thoughts. He had no idea as to why she suddenly felt so distant from him as if she was slowly drifting away from him. Had he not thought of the repercussions of playing such a dangerous game? Of course not; he had only been thinking of the outcomes of his actions when it came to the end of the war.

He suddenly felt her snap her fingers in front of his face and with a flash of a sneer, he flicked his eyes up to see that she had turned to face him. Her legs were crossed and she no longer had such a distant look in her eyes.

"You seem just as off as me today," Orthani chuckled as she brought him out of his thoughts.

"So it would seem," he spoke softly as he dropped her gaze.

"Well go on then. Scram; I'm sure you've got things to take care of that don't involve you and I having a staring contest for the rest of the hour," she joked, running her hand roughly through her still somewhat wild onyx colored curls and brushing some out of her face only to have them fall in front of her eye yet again.

His jaw clenched as he remained silent. _Leave now and let this war destroy us once again? Hardly._ He briefly looked up before he gently grabbed her jaw underneath her chin and gently pulled her to him to capture her lips with his almost so gently that she almost missed it. She felt her breath hitch in her throat when he freed her jaw from his grasps and went to run his fingers through her hair, using that to coax her to slide closer to him so that she was practically sitting right beside him. He kissed her again, this time more firmly pressing his lips to hers as the hand that had run through her curls rested at the nape of her neck.

At first, she questioned what he was doing. She could feel each kiss growing more and more fervent as he held her to his lips. She complied of course; she never dared complain when he chose to get so close to her, especially since his lips were just as intoxicating as he was.

Before she could register what happened, tongues were swirling passionately with each other, flicking, teasing, deeply indulging in themselves as they slowly pushed away every small concern and worry to the back of their minds.

He shifted so that he was closer to her and he found one of her wrists. He let his fingers ghost along her skin, barely letting his skin touch hers as he attempted to get her hands to come to life. He smirked into her lips as he felt her hand rise to his face and curl to rest on the side of his neck.

"What the hell are you doing?" she asked breathlessly after forcing herself to part from his mind numbing kiss.

His eyes shot open as he gave her an alluring, crooked smirk that surely made her heart stop. "Stalling," he breathed against her parted lips before using that split second to his advantage and slipping his silver tongue into her mouth as he brought his lips down to hers once more.

* * *

_Oh god, what have I gotten myself into_ she thought as he kissed her again with such heat that it made her mind go haywire. She felt a hand snake around her side and rest against the small dip in her lower back and she arched her back away from his touch as he pulled her to him so that she was sitting on his legs with hers wrapped loosely around his waist. She indulged in the feeling of his silver tongue running along hers, he dipping deep before pulling out to leave her wanting more only to have her wishes slaked when he complied, and she could feel him growing restless underneath her.

It was almost as if he read her mind when she wrapped her arms around his neck to pull herself closer to him, for his armor quickly vanished just seconds afterwards, leaving him bare-chested with just his leather coat without the heavy shoulder protection and gold arm gauntlets clinging to it. The breastplate was gone, leaving him in but his leather trousers and that stripped down leather coat.

At that moment, Orthani knew there would be no stopping this. For once, he wanted this just as much as she did regardless of intentions. If she stopped this, then he would leave with no sure time of when he would return. If he was going to run off regardless of what happened, she was going to enjoy every second of this and by god he better take her so far beyond that which she knew to be possible or so help her…

A small impatient noise left the back of her throat as they continued their heated strings of kisses, bringing a smirk to Loki's lips when he felt it against his tongue. He let a low growl rumble low in his throat when he felt her nails scrape lightly over his scalp as she ran her fingers through his raven hair to dishevel his infamous slick.

He ran a hand over one of her thighs at his waist as he continued loosing himself in her intoxicating kiss, his mind completely at ease with her being so dangerously enveloped in him as he was with her. His hands ran over her sides as he felt her move in his arms, finally resting on the cool silk of her black robe still clinging to her body. As he withdrew from her kiss and dropped his lips to brush against her jaw, his fingers found the thin strip of fabric that kept the silk from falling off her body and the traced it to where it was tied in the front. His nimble fingers swiftly untied it before he dropped his parted lips to her neck, where he exhaled a hot breath before dipping his lips to press against her quickened pulse.

Her heart started racing when she felt his hands dart up to her shoulders to push the silken robe off her arms, the tips of his fingers seemingly sparking against her skin and leaving goose bumps in their wake from such a subtle touch. She could tell he was determined to send her nerves into overdrive with every splayed touch his hands swirled against her skin, at one point even managing to send a shudder up her spine as she felt her body suddenly plunge into cold before her core temperature started rising.

He owned her. He was making that unmistakably clear. Just by the way he could pull on her senses and make her lose her composure did it show that he had complete control over her, and he was going to be damn sure that by the time she unraveled underneath him, she would remember one name only. His.

He growled when he felt nails biting at the base of his neck when he laved at her neck. He withdrew from her neck and pressed his forehead against hers, an alluring smirk plastered across parted lips as their gazes met with a smoldering effect. Another impatient noise hummed at the back of her throat as she let him unwrap her arms from around his neck and gently slide the silk fabric off her body completely; he could already tell that those noises she made were going to drive him mad.

The moment he haphazardly tossed the silken garment to the floor, he felt her hips lightly grind against him as her arms looped back around his neck and her fingers raked through his hair, making him exhale a rough, husky breath as his eyes snapped back to meet hers with a look that made her breath suddenly catch in her throat.

His eyes narrowed for a brief second before she realized he was hesitating, and she remedied that with a soft, gentle nip of his lower lip followed by her hands slipping below the collar of his leather coat to start sliding it from his shoulders, purposefully running her nails against his skin just to taunt him.

A growl left his throat as he roughly brought his lips to hers again whilst letting her pull the leather off his back. He slid his muscular arms from the sleeves and slowly tossed it to the side onto the floor to his right. When she lightly ran her fingers over the muscles in his shoulders, he suddenly grew impatient. She was dragging this out just as much as he was, but to him, it made him feel as if she wanted him just as much as he wanted her. Sure, he knew he could easily toss her to the side, take her and be done with it; but then what would be the point of calling this 'stalling?' Oh no, he was going to drag this on as much and as long as he could endure, for he knew she was on the same wave length as he was.

As his kisses grew more fervent, she could feel a hand close around her upper arm and she already anticipated what he was going to do. She smirked as their tongues once again swirled against each other and she unhooked her legs from around his waist only to be lightly thrown onto the center of the bed; Loki swiftly lunged up to pin her to the mattress by pressing his body to hers, knowing all too well that if he didn't, she would have easily pulled some stunt to where he would miraculously end up pinned underneath her.

He ran his tongue over her collarbone, her neck, the hollow of her throat, her pounding pulse on the side of her neck, laving his tongue against her sweetened skin as he grew addicted to her taste. He ravished the hollow dip in her neck, delving his tongue down while he strongly pressed against her. The short gasp that left her throat turned into a desperate moan as he drug his tongue up and across her exposed neck until he reached her jaw, where he twisted it with a teasing flick before tracing the underside of her jaw until he reached her pulse. He smirked against her skin when he felt her back arch underneath him and the peaks of her breast brush up against his chest. While he anchored some of his weight on his arm, he let their hips lock and grind together gradually in time with each other.

She let her head roll back and her eyes drift shut as his hand swiftly darted up her side, his thumb gently swiping over the sensitive nub as it hardened at his touch. She bit her lip hard as she was reveling in the feeling of his tongue roughly laving against her skin and his teasing strokes of her breasts as if he couldn't get enough of her taste; it was like he was trying to make her lose every last ounce of control she had by taking his time. While she didn't mind it, she was sure there was only so far she could be taken before simple teasing lost its flare to her.

"Breathe, my love," Loki's low voice suddenly reverberated against her throat and brought her back from her overindulgence of his touch. She hadn't realized she hadn't been inhaling but when she attempted to, her effort was soon thwarted when Loki dipped his head down to run his silver tongue agonizingly slow over her other breast and caused her breath to hitch in her throat. He smirked against her skin when he felt her hands clench his around his hair and he repeated the exact same movement when she tried to inhale once again, getting the same reaction from her as before.

"Oh you prick," she gasped when he finally let her breathe without torturing her lungs any further, only to have him capture the hardened peak with his lips before plunging that silver tongue of his down across the sensitive nub to bring a stifled moan out of the back of her throat.

His deep chuckle hummed at the back of his throat as he laved her breast once more with a sensual swipe of his tongue before he gently bit the hardened nub, his eyes flashing up to watch her reaction.

The look that crossed her face when she was barely able to manage stifling a soft moan by biting her lip made him exhale a throaty breath as he fought back the urge to bite her lower lip and pull it from where her teeth had held it for far too long. Her nails drug across his scalp and down the side of his face lightly as he nipped lightly at her breast before soothing his bite with a cool lave of his tongue and a soft kiss to follow, making his already heightened state climb higher as his eyes grew darker with lust. For him, it was always the small things she did on a whim that got him; scratching at his cheek knowing that he always had a liking to her rough nails biting at his skin was one of those small things that drove him insane.

He pushed her wrist away and moved to press his lips to hers, afterwards nipping her lower lip and pulling it from her teeth so that he could slip his tongue back into her hot mouth. His hands drifted lower on her figure, swirling over her ribs to make her shudder, drifting across her stomach and down low on her hips where he started to untie the stays to her leather trousers.

Already, she was plotting, planning and waiting for the perfect moment to get her revenge on him. The moment she felt work his way through the stays holding the leather tight to her hips and it loosened, without breaking the kiss, she pulled his head to the side and flipped him so that she was perched on top of him, straddling his stomach with a smug look on her face as she bit her lip in approval.

It took him a split second to gather what had actually happened before he smirked at her with narrowed eyes. "Are you trying to bring out my rougher side?" he taunted lowly as he watched her chuckle in her victory.

She leaned down to nip along his jaw, gently trailing down to his neck where she ran her tongue over the bulging vein in his neck. The muscles rippled under her lips as she slowly tasted his skin, nipping and sucking as she trailed down to the base of his throat. "Why should I let you have all the fun?" she whispered against his heated skin before she felt his hands lock on her hips as if he was about to flip her. She swiftly grabbed his wrists before he was able to do just that. She chuckled as she moved his arms away and then with her hands planted firmly on his chest while letting her nails dig into his skin, used her toes to curl around the hem of her trousers at her feet and pull them from her hips with one gentle tug on both legs. She then swung her legs over and sat on his stomach to keep him from trying to regain his rightful place on top and then freed her legs from the leather confines before tossing them to the floor, leaving her completely bare in front of him besides the lace garment hugging her waist and her hair falling over her shoulders to cover her breasts.

He could get used to this; having such a woman at his fingertips that had no need for emotional sentiment. She was already in his mind, understood his complex nature; as much as emotions played a huge part in any companionship, neither of them were big on emotions. This was simply to bring them down to the simplest form of humanity; being so lost and wrapped up in the arms of someone that can easily break you, only to have them prove to that they only wish to become as vulnerable as the next.

Trust. Trust between two people so broken and beaten that they had nothing left but each other and this was their final act of binding themselves to each other for the ultimate loyalty.

As much as Loki was enjoying seeing her above him for once, it just didn't feel the same to him. When her head was turned as she threw her leather clad off the bed, he hooked his hand around her calf just behind her knee and gently nudged her off balance so that she fell off his stomach and back onto the bed with a light squeak. Her head fell into the pillows lying at the head of the bed and before she could bring herself up, he had her pinned underneath him once more.

Before she had a chance to retort with something smart, he pressed his hips against hers and rotated them, bringing a surprised gasp from her lips before she had a chance to suppress it. She could feel him through the fabric of the lace and the leather, pressing against her between her legs as though he was deliberately taunting her. She rolled her hips against him harder this time, hearing his groan of approval hover over her ear as she brushed up against him in just the right spot.

His hands held her hips down as he let his tongue work against her neck, smirking lightly as he felt her pulse quicken when he let his thumb hook over the lace still clinging to her body. She had remained relatively quiet up until that point; he was aching to see how long her silence would last.

He let his hands swirl over her bare stomach once more before he hoisted himself onto his knees, pushed her legs closed so that he could pull the lace down from around her hips and off her legs with one quick move, he tossing them aside while his hungry gaze met hers.

With eyes glazed over with lust, she watched him slowly drop his lips to her thigh, grazing them against her skin as he held her gaze with such intensity that she couldn't bring herself to glance away from him. As he trailed his lips to her inner thigh, all she could focus on was his intense stare and the fluttering heartbeat now pounding in her chest. His mischievous green eyes glinted as he drew closer towards the apex of her legs where, once she realized what he was about to for his next bout of pleasurable torture, started aching for his touch.

Anticipation was his ally as he lingered over her, already sensing her moistened arousal radiating from her slickened heat. He hung over her, occasionally nipping at her inner thigh as she was torturously made to wait for his silver tongue to send her into a state of muddled moaning and desperate gasps.

With one firm upward stroke from her opening to her clit, she keened against the sudden touch, her back arching off the bed as his tongue swirled over the swollen nub as he held her hips down. Her jaw dropped as she felt his teasing flicks and savory swirls over the slick skin and her eyes fluttered closed, head rolling to the side as one hand reached out to rake through his raven locks as the other searched for something else to grab ahold of. Her hips rocked forward in a silent plea for more.

He savored her taste as he laved her clit once more, feeling her entire body shudder from his sweet, agonizingly pleasurable torture. He smirked as he ran the tip of his tongue down towards her opening and after briefly removing it from her folds, he plunged it in her heat and raked it along her saturated walls.

Her entire back arched off the bed as she felt him running his tongue along her inner walls. She bit her lip as she attempted to keep her wanton moans from escaping; she gave short gasps for air as he drove her crazy with his sensual strokes of his tongue; kissing, sucking, running over every sensitive part of her as he savored her sweet slick of her arousal.

She bit her lip hard as she ran her fingers roughly through her own curls; every nerve in her body ached for him. He laved her, lavished her; gods, that silver tongue was almost too much for her to handle. Every touch, kiss, nip, swirl was driving her towards such a powerful buildup that she so needed; her body was covered with a thin layer of sweat and by the time he slipped a single digit into her core, she was begging for a release. Her senses were going haywire, her mind was practically static, every inch of her craved for touch and pleasure to the point it was desperate. Her hips rocked against his tongue, now teasing her inner walls as his thumb started to make slow circles around her clit.

His name left her lips as she moaned, begging him to let her come, let her fall over the edge into pure ecstasy. That talented, slick tongue of his had gotten the best of her; she was melting in his hand, unraveling at his every touch to the point it was unbearable.

Again he heard his name roll off her tongue as her every breath sounded like a moan for more. The way her hips rocked in time with the circular motion of his thumb taunting her clit, the way she gasped his name as her build slowly rose towards her climax made him completely lose himself. He now wanted what simplicity she begged for: to be as close as two people could possibly be with each other.

With one last lave of her core, he took his hand away from her and ran his tongue up her slit, bringing her to her edge but not allowing her to fall over just yet. He pulled away from her saturated folds and sat up, still savoring her taste on the tip of his tongue with closed eyes. He heard her frustrated groan leave her lips as her arched back collapsed back onto the bed, her breathing sporadic and far from regular.

He smirked and with lidded eyes let his hands travel down so that he could release the aching bulge that was straining at his leather trousers. He studied Orthani's already weakened posture, her body gleaming with a thin sheen of sweat, her chest heaving as she tried to catch her breath; so vulnerable, so weak was she as she laid in front of him in such a state to where she was so easily breakable, bendable to his every touch.

He loved every second of it.

"Breathe, my love," he spoke barely above a whisper as he finally rid himself of the leather pants and tossed them to the side. She was still breathing the same, sporadic pattern as she was before, her head resting to the side with closed eyes as she was forced to calm from her once hypersensitive state. When he heard her breaths become slower, more regular in her inhales, he dipped back down to her heated folds, using his tongue to capture the erect little nub in a sweet, gentle kiss as he lightly sucked on it.

She felt his lips around her, his light sucking causing her stomach to do flips at his kinder touch. A breathless moan barely escaped her throat when she felt his teeth give it such a gentle nip that she barely realized it had been his teeth; her voice raised an octave as she bit her lip.

He let his lips slowly travel up her body, letting his tongue swirl deliberately across her skin as he tasted the saltiness of her skin now covered in a thin layer of sweat. He worked his way up, quickly nipping at the bone of her hip before he trailed over her stomach, darted to her breasts, then up across her collar to the hollow of her throat. He once again recaptured her lips and slid his tongue into her mouth, letting her taste what little remnants of her own essence was left. A small, impatient whimper left the back of her throat as he rested against her, bodies pressing against each other. He found her hands and threaded their fingers together as he waited for her to relax underneath him, using his kiss as a slight distraction as he felt her slowly growing less tense with every slow collide their lips and tongues took with each other.

She moaned into his kiss when she felt him let go of her hand to reach down and position himself at the her entrance, teasingly running his hardened, enlarged head of his cock through her slick and over her clit, making her back arch off the bed to brush against him. She ran her free hand roughly through his scalp, making him emit a low growl in the back of his throat as her nails bit at his skin.

He smirked while reaching for the hand she had entangled in his hair and pulled it from his locks, once again lacing his fingers with hers before pinning her wrists above her head. He broke the kiss and started nipping at her jawline lightly, letting her take a deep breath before he pushed himself into her, sliding deep into her slick heat with a single slow thrust.

She keened under him, the feeling of him filling her and sparking nerves that hadn't been awaken in ages causing her jaw to drop and her head to fall back as she held her thighs tightly to his waist. Her breaths sounded like desperate gasps for air as she could feel him move deep inside her, her fingers digging into his knuckles as she slowly grew accustom to his size as he stretched her. She felt him bury his nose in her neck, groaning against her pulse at the tightness, the hot slick of her core constricting and stretching against his length. His jaw clenched as she rolled her hips against his, sending quick bouts of pleasure jolting up their spines.

He pulled back from her neck and pressed his forehead to hers, his hair falling in his face. A thin layer of sweat started to form on his body as he rocked his hips forward into her, her back bending to the point where they were pressed together with little space between them. A smirk curled at his lips from the moan that left Orthani's lips and he readjusted how their fingers were laced together before he slowly rocked into her again, her head falling back to give him access to her neck, where he nipped and swiped at her gleaming skin as he continued to thrust into her slowly, grinding his hips with hers as he set the pace to grind against her already sensitive clit with every deliberate stroke.

She was able to keep her breathing even to control her voice until he sped up his pace, he thrusting into her harder and grinding against her roughly to pull the same muddled moans he had pulled from her lips earlier. He plunged his tongue to the base of her neck at the hollow, feeling her moans grow excessively more intense as her body reacted with his, her hips grinding with his to meet him with every thrust.

She could feel it boiling within her; every time he would quicken his pace and roughly drill himself deeper into her core, it would send her that much closer to her much wanted release. No matter how much she tried to keep silent, her gasps and moans always escaped her attempts to silence herself.

She felt his hands clutch tightly around hers as he felt her grow restless underneath him, her muscles already starting to clench around him as he shifted his hips to stroke at a different angle, causing her to keen underneath him.

He growled into her neck when his name left her lips again, it losing its harshness whenever it left her lips and her lips alone. Her hips bucked against his as she started towards her release, her gasping, heavy breathing and her desperate moans paired with the feeling of her closing around him so deep inside her bringing him just as dangerously close to his peak as well. He could feel her nails biting into his hands so hard that they drew blood at point and he smirked, swiping his tongue over her neck above her pulse just before he felt every muscle in her body strain. His control started to slip from his grasp.

Her body exploded with sudden ecstasy, convulsing as she came underneath him, throwing her head back as she suddenly couldn't breathe. Her heart was pounding in her chest, her mind went numb with the purest sensation, her world nothing to her but the powerful eruption racking throughout her entire body.

Loki could feel her entire body seize, her muscles inside her clenching rhythmically which was what sent him over his edge as well; his final few thrusts reaching deeper than she ever thought possible as he let her milk him of everything he had. His breathing was hot and ragged against her neck, his mind lost in the same mind-numbing sensations that he had just brought to her moments before he spilled over his edge. Every other sense he had suddenly failed; her cries of passion never registered in his mind as he convulsed against her.

Their bodies trembled against each other as they struggled to find their breath again.

Chests heaved as they tried to catch their breaths from such a heart stopping, world shattering euphoria that they both had racking through their bodies at one point before. They were slowly brought down, back to their normal level as they both were practically clinging to another as if they would slip away had they let go at that moment.

Orthani let her eyes flutter open, her jaw still hung open as she looked up to Loki, who had buried his nose into her neck when the waves of his orgasm overtook him. She could feel his hot, panting breath against her neck as she felt his clenched muscles in his arms suddenly lax.

With a tired arm, she managed to unlace her fingers from his and reached up to run her fingers through his hair, letting out an exhausted exhale as she rolled her head to the side and let her eyes drift closed. Her heart pounded in her chest as she attempted to get her heart rate down and she didn't even want to think about how much sweat she was covered in.

Loki moved, withdrawing from her neck and peppering kisses across her collarbone gently, his death grip on her hand relaxing as he tasted her salty skin. He felt like collapsing as his ragged breath started becoming more normal and he pressed his forehead to hers. He watched her reaction with lidded eyes as he slipped himself from her heat. Her over-sensitivity made her entire body suddenly tense and keen underneath him, her jaw hanging open as her nerves sent sparks up her spine in an aftershock.

He peppered kisses along her jaw until his entire length was free from her and he collapsed on his stomach beside her, letting his mind slowly regain control over himself. He closed his eyes and took in slow, steady breaths until he was able to think clearly again. His hair was falling in his eyes, his entire body was covered in a thin layer of sweat and he could feel every muscle in his body relaxing.

He felt a hand weakly grab his arm, and he looked up to see Orthani had curled up beside him, her breathing still slightly heavier than usual, and a look in her eyes that he couldn't describe. He smirked, reached out with one arm, pulled her to him, and captured her lips with his softly.

So sweet and gentle that kiss was; it made him suddenly feel guilty for the fact that he had to suddenly leave her, for how long he wasn't quite sure of. He kissed her again, and then once more as he felt himself being pulled deeper into her sweetened touch.

He had to force himself to pull away from her and he pressed his forehead to hers, his eyes closing as he lightly shook his head. "I can't…" he hoarsely whispered as his once euphoric feelings were replaced with ones of dread.


	20. My Sincerest Apologies: Author's Note

Ah, hello there my loverlies. It's been a long time coming, has it not?

Unfortunately, I come to you bearing news that may not be to your liking.

This story, I regret to say, has been put indefinitely on hold due to time constraints that have left me unable to write and continue this story. While I do hope to be able to finish it sometime in the future, it will not happen in recent months to come. I do apologize greatly for this, for I hate having to put this story on the backburner for other things.

I feel it is necessary to tell you this on my account, for I feel it is unfair to you all still waiting on an update, if you are all still there at least. Motivation to continue this is very low at this point, and it's hard with very little feedback to be able to continue this with the feeling that I am doing this storyline justice.

However.

This is not the only news I come bearing. The only reason I am putting this story on hold for now is because I am writing a book of my own, and these characters I have grown to love in this fanfiction have become hard to part with and are wonderful to write; they have made themselves apart of this story I am writing already, simply with different names, different mannerisms, different everything really; only their core beings are still locked away in these characters. And I've slowly but surely fallen in love with them, which is why this story is on hold. This book will reflect what I have already written in this story; the epicness, the heartbreaks, the twists and turns of an absolutely heartwrenching tale that even Steven Moffat might applaud, the companionship, the wars, the inner workings of a mastermind at work, and a woman who can tame said mastermind like the ringmaster she is, the triumph of not good or evil, but to those who well deserve it: except times that by an infinite number and you get what I am attempting to create and *hopefully* get published.

All of this, except with my own characters. (Characters who are fairly similar to Orthani, Thor, and Loki, might I say. Honestly this was a happy accident, but I'll take it.)

For anyone who cares, this will be finished. I'm sure when the new Thor movie comes out, my Loki phase will return with a vengeance (much to my boyfriend's disapproval, haha) and I'll once again be able to finish this story once and for all. I apologize for making you all wait this long to hear word from me. You all have been so great to me that you don't deserve to be kept in the dark.

It's been a great ride so far. I'm sure once I get sick of writing this epic tale, I'll have to put it down and write something else, and this is what I will go to. But I promise you I will finish it, if it is the last thing I do. For now, expect tentative updates once in a blue moon. I've had a massive writers block on this since the last chapter I posted and it's only gotten worse. For now, it is on an indefinite leave.

**But it will get finished. And if it doesn't, you can message me and complain until I get a chapter out. That, I give you permission to do if you still care enough about this story. **In fact, when I do finally finish this story, I'll simply post all the rest of the chapters at once to make up for lost time.

I'm sorry again for the wait. I do love you all and I do wish you will all stick around and patiently wait on my lazy ass to get this done. I know that probably won't happen, but hey. One can hope.

Message me at all if you have anything to say. I can reply to those a lot easier. If it's about the story, the ongoing book project, a fanfic recommendation that might get my writers block unhitched **(WHICH WOULD BE VERY HELPFUL BY THE WAY), **whatever it may be; don't be a stranger. I still check up on things over here, so please do drop by.

Thanks for all of your support so far. As a writer, it means a lot to me.


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